The view this week around Westpark Dr. at the West Loop includes both the old lattice towers currently holding CenterPoint’s electrical transmission lines and the taller, skinnier single pole models that will be taking over the gig. A reader captured some side-by-side portraits of the old towers and their replacements, which CenterPoint is deploying to raise the lines out of the way of TxDOT’s proposed future edits to the 610-59 interchange tangle. The cherry picker above is shown tethered to one of the new towers in the easement just west of 610; the top shot shows a pole up on the east side of the freeway between the Loop Central office midrises and the Danny Jackson Family Bark Park (which closed down last summer so CenterPoint could work on the land the county had been using as the park’s parking lot).
Here’s a ground-level shot at the base of an old-and-new tower pair just outside the dog park, with some Houston Garden Center inventory in the background for scale:
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The garden supply store and nearby Candlewood Suites sign also make an appearance in this west-facing older shot of the dog park, which will probably reopen in June or so beneath the revised towerscape:
- Previously on Swamplot:Â CenterPoint Energy Work To Cause Extended Outage of Dog Park on Westpark Dr.
Photos: Swamplot inbox (new transmission tower installation), Ann C. (bottom)
Who hasn’t gotten really high by the dog park at 59 and 610?
It’s likely because I live near there and transit the 59/westpark corridor inside the loop often (and so pay more attention to it), but it seems like Houston has uglier and more noticeable transmission infrastructure than other cities I have visited. I’m hard pressed to notice it in Los Angeles, for example, even when I am looking out for it specifically (admittedly on the nicer westside of town). And that’s not even bringing up the local power lines at all which seem downright third world in certain areas (both sides of the street lined with poles that are leaning at precarious angles…etc)
It’s 2017…there’s got to be a better way. In other cities it’s a quality of life priority to bury them. Houston just loves them. Houston just doesn’t give a damn. These hideous power/transmission lines are a major QOL issue that must be addressed. The city needs to do a $1B bond issue to bury them throughout the city…especially where they interrupt beautiful panoramas, and along our signature streets/boulevards/thoroughfares. This is horrible…they are butt-ass ugly. You don’t see this vulgar crap all over Dallas, Miami or Atlanta. Houston reminds me of a high society socialite who shows up at a grand gala in a lovely $5,000 knee-length Chanel cocktail dress, but forgot to shave her gross hairy legs. She thinks she looks stunning, but everyone else in the place is laughing at her.
Many wood utility poles around town have yet be reperpendicularized after the last hurricane (forgot the name). A leaning pole back of my yard WAS replaced, in a notably efficient, rapid and non-destructive way (nicely done, Centerpoint). Speaking of hurricanes, these new high tension poles must impose huge leverage on those tiny-looking bolts at the base.
MUST.
NOT.
PEE.
ON.
BIG.
POLE.
Squirrel!
@honest truth
I’ve heard repeatedly that given the completely saturated soil and swelling clays, that burying power lines all over the city would be insanely more expensive than you’re thinking it would be
While working with Entergy in New Orleans (12 plus years ago) at every public meeting I went to citizens always complained about the cities third world look when we would tell them burying power lines was not a part of the long-term plan (maintenance and upgrades). They would frequently state that no other major city had above ground lines and that on their most recent business trip to Houston, they did not see any above ground and that we should follow Houston’s lead.
Less than 20% of US transmission lines are buried. Safe to say that is primarily in new developments, highly densified areas and small wealthy cities that don’t mind dealing with hefty surcharges for 50yr time periods.
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Underground power lines cost five to 10 times more than overhead wires, don’t last as long, take 60% longer to fix and naturally cost more to replace/fix. In a city highly susceptible to flooding I’m not sure buried lines would ever make sense.
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I expect this may become a topic once we have flying cars available for everyone, but other priorities until that time.
I dig overhead power lines. They add interesting complexity to otherwise simplistic skies.
I would love to see the power lines buried in Rice Village
Well…if electric cars and distributed power generation really take off in terms of market share then the nation’s entire electric transmission and distribution grid is going to need to be re-thought. There may be quite a few opportunities regarding aesthetics.
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That being said…I’ve lived in cities in the third world where the power lines are so aesthetically crazy that they sell post cards and t-shirts to tourists with images of power lines on them. I’ve hosted visitors to Houston from the third world that insisted upon getting selfies taken of themselves in front of our transmission lines. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I would suspect that <2% of power lines are in fact aesthetically offensive and that if we just cleared up a select few skyline views that we'd stop giving very much of a damn.