After hurricanes, tornadoes, ice storms and other natural disasters that disrupt vital infrastructure services by downing overhead power and communications lines, there invariably is the question: "Why don't they put those wires underground?" There are two obvious answers: 1.Immediately after such disasters, the priority is restoring services, not planning and executing projects to convert aerial to underground; and 2. It costs too much - funds simply are not available for costly overhead-to-underground conversions. Of course, much of today s electrical distribution and telecommunications cable infrastructure is already underground; utility lines have been routinely buried in new developments since the 1970s. However, in older neighborhoods of most American cities, distribution lines remain suspended from utility poles, often in areas with many exposed to mature trees, and these are the lines usually most vulnerable to wind and ice storms.
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