Why don’t we put power lines underground?
The move could defend the grid against hurricanes. But it brings its own problems—and price tag.
By Eleanor Cummins June 6, 2018
The first message transmitted through Samuel Morse's newly-inaugurated telegraph line asked, “What hath God wrought?†Sent from Washington, D.C. to Baltimore, Maryland through a system of wires suspended above homes and trees on wooden poles, the 1844 dispatch was oddly fitting. Suspended telegraph wires were soon supplanted by Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone wires and supplemented by electricity wires connecting citizens to the growing grid. But they were not a universally popular choice. At first, people complained utility poles, as they would come to be called, were unreasonably ugly. Today, people claim they’re unreasonably risky.
https://www.popsci.com/why-dont-we-put-power-lines-underground
