There is State recognition that we nee to help older communities
become less impacted by the poor planning practices of the past.
There are also State funds to support it.
Brookes Ave. is completely loaded with local power, grid power, Bell
Atlantic, CTM analog, CTM digital, Star Power analog (including those
new green suitcase size battery packs added in 1999), Star Power
digital, and others. There appears to the pressure to add more to the
existing load.
Our community would be well served by our development of a strategy to
reduce or remove the overhead utility lines. The strategy could cover
5,10, or perhaps 15 years.
Tom Patton
26 Brookes Ave.
http://www.gazette.net/200021/kensington/news/12613-1.html
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Garrett Park chosen for program to bury power lines
by Leah Carlson May 24, 2000 Garrett Park has been chosen to participate in a statewide pilot program to bury overhead utility lines with the goal of reducing the frequency of electrical blackouts. But town residents see a second result of the program -- a safer Strathmore Avenue. John Tollefson, who lives on Strathmore Avenue, said he does not let his four children cross the busy street alone. The traffic level is "approaching 20,000 vehicles a day," said Tollefson, co-chairman of an advisory committee working with the State Highway Administration to improve safety of the street. "It is difficult for pedestrians to get across." While the state buries the power lines, the advisory committee is pushing for the state to also narrow the street, add curbs and sidewalks, and fix drainage problems. The proposal to bury the utility lines along a half-mile strip of Strathmore Avenue would cost approximately $4 million. The state has promised to pay $2 million, if the town and Montgomery County contribute money to the project, Tollefson said. Garrett Park's town council will dedicate $100,000 to the project as long as the state and county funding comes through, said Glenda Ingham, town clerk-treasurer. John Clark, director of project development for the county's Department of Public Works and Transportation, said the county is working with the state on a project design and will make decisions about funding after the design is completed. "We are very pleased that we were chosen because that will help the road immeasurably," said Peggy Pratt of Garrett Park, co-chair of the advisory committee. The other towns chosen for the pilot program, introduced by Gov. Parris N. Glendening, are Annapolis, Elkton and Ocean City. "While this kind of extreme weather is unpredictable, we must take aggressive, preventative action now to minimize the severity of power outages after future storms," Glendening said in a press release. Tollefson said burying the utility lines could make the road less dangerous because if utility poles could be eliminated, then trees could grow taller. That would create a canopy to "help drivers feel more closed in and therefore less likely to speed," Tollefson said. But the main goal is to lead to fewer blackouts because trees could not fall on buried lines during a storm.
Still, there are no guarantees, said Nancy Moses, a spokeswoman for Potomac Electric Power Company, which serves Montgomery and Prince George's counties. "Underground lines are also subject to maintenance problems," she said.
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