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Overhead electric utility lines are one of many physical elements in the built environment that contribute to visual blight and degrade the valued character of America’s communities and countryside. However, these utilities are still vital to serving the infrastructure needs of a growing country. Thus, creative solutions for how to build, construct, and site these in a manner that mitigates visual impacts are needed.

One solution, encouraged by Scenic America is to bury these utilities underground, in a process referred to as “undergrounding”. Much of the information and discussion regarding burying utilities has been limited to those wires that provide power to individual residences and businesses (distribution lines). However, the potential for undergrounding transmission lines that transmit electricity from power plants to primary substations across the country is also possible.

While excessive cost and technical infeasibility are often cited by utility companies and other officials as reasons for why transmission lines cannot be buried, examples are popping up across the country that demonstrate that the technology to bury transmission lines does indeed exist and that the costs are not necessarily prohibitive. The potential social costs of not burying these lines, including the destruction of the visual environment and the loss of sense of place and community character, outweigh the discrepancies in costs for construction.

Many communities and organizations across the country are working with utilities and local officials to investigate options that provide better solutions for all. One current example involves the Trinity River Corridor Project in Dallas, Texas. A comprehensive plan to revitalize the Trinity River corridor has been in the works for years, with proposals including the reestablishment of a more natural stream course, the reintroduction of native plants and wetlands, and economic development projects along a new pedestrian greenway corridor. Much of this plan is guided by architectural and design guidelines intended to protect the visual integrity of the area and foster a renewed sense of place for the corridor. Yet, development plans still include the potential construction of a new 345 Kilovolt transmission line that would span the river along primary recreation and development zones. However, there is still hope, as key trust organizations and advocacy groups are currently working with local officials and interested industry leaders to explore solutions that provide a win-win scenario for the city, utility and community as a whole.

With this information, key trust organizations and advocacy groups are currently working with local officials and interested industry leaders to explore solutions that provide a win-win scenario for the city, utilities and the community as a whole. So, at least in the case of the Trinity River Corridor, the view ahead may be getting clearer.

 

• Power to the People:  Strategies for Reducing the Visual Impact of Overhead Utilities

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Many readers were alerted to the fact that on May 4 the Senate took steps to fundamentally alter the Highway Beautification Act and allow NONCONFORMING BILLBOARDS TO BE REBUILT if they are knocked down in a storm. Sen. Robert Bennett (R-Utah) introduced and amendment permitting 13 states in the South and Southeast to opt out of the Highway Beautification Act's (HBA) provisions regarding destroyed “nonconforming” billboards. Following the primary goal of the HBA in ridding the federal highway system of billboards in rural scenic areas, current regulations dictate that if a nonconforming sign is knocked down in a storm, it has to stay down and cannot be reconstructed. A nonconforming sign is one that would be illegal to build today. They are mostly the old, wooden signs that have been littering our rural highways for three or four decades.

Without this provision, there will be almost no teeth left in the HBA and those old 30-year-old billboards will be replaced with permanent structures that will be around forever in spite of the desire of local communities to remove them.

If you have not done so already, tell your Senators and Representatives that you do not support this underhanded method of changing one of the most important scenic conservation laws in the country. Ask them to urge the House-Senate conference committee to remove the Bennett amendment from the final supplemental appropriations bill. If you have contacted your Congressional representatives, then help spread the word about this stealthy attempt to undermine the Highway Beautification Act.

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SCENIC MARYLAND ANNOUNCES THE 2006 LAST CHANCE SCENIC PLACES

This past month Scenic Maryland celebrated the distinctive beauty that can be found throughout the statewhile throwing the spotlight a pending and urgent threat to the states’ remarkable and diverse scenic resources. Across the state, places of unique character are threatened by residential sprawl, commercial strip invasion, homogenous franchises, billboard blight, the loss of cultural resources, inappropriately sited cell towers, ridgeline development, or other actions that could transform the landscape.

Scenic Maryland hopes the announcement of the seven Last Chance Scenic Places will aid local efforts in preserving these areas of scenic beauty from permanent destruction.

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<tbody> </tbody>This year’s Scenic Blight Photo winner in Scenic Nevada’s annual contest captured a haunting image of machinery ready to break ground on a new housing development. Like many areas across the country, Nevada struggles with preserving the natural environment while accommodating the housing needs of a growing population. The winning photographer is Katherine Grabor, a 12th Grader in Reno, Nevada.

MORE INFORMATION:

See more winning photos at www.ScenicNevada.org.

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New Yorker Patrick Moroney snapped this photo across from Central Park. The advertisment is covering a historic building under construction and Moroney commented that, "Though illegal, putting billboards on construction scaffolding is a big trend in this city."

What visual mayhem is taking over your city? Send us pictures and your commentary about the good, the bad, and the ugly that affect the visual quality in your town.

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