March 16, 2004
Living too late?
Utility undergrounding in San Francisco moves at a snail's pace: one or two miles per year, at a cost of $3 million per linear mile. This doesn't include the thousands of dollars that homeowners must pay out of pocket.
DPT and PG&E plans call for 390 (of 920) linear miles of San Francisco streets to have underground utility cabling complete by the end of 2004. Expect homeowners all across our 47 square miles to rejoice on New Year's Eve, 2219.
Happily, my block in the Lower Haight boasts underground electrical connections. No pretty retro streetlamps, but no flyer-papered utility poles, either.
Planned streetcar-suburb communities such as Schenley Farms in Pittsburgh made underground wires a part of their design; in San Francisco, where digging is more complex (and thus, more expensive), utility poles sprouted like weeds.
