Power Lines Does anyone ever follow their paths?

[roadman65]

I say this cause in Florida we have transmission lines that follow the east coast for several hundred miles.  For those of you who travel the 40 mile exit less stretch from Yeehaw Junction to Fort Pierce for several miles along the road two sets of power lines follow the toll road fist on the left and then on the right.  On US 192 they cross at Deer Park and on SR 528 they pass over just west of SR 520.  They even cross I-4 on the 9 mile exit less stretch  between SR 44 and I-95. 

In St Lucie County they pass over SR 70 near the fairgrounds as just north of that state highway the two lines split.  One set continues across the highway west of CR 713 while the other heads east to then turn south over SR 70 at CR 712,  In Martin County they pass over County Highway 714 in two places, but when they get to SR 710 there is a third set of power lines as its 2-2 and then 1 further east.

Are there any maps that show the routes the lines take in not only Florida but the entire nation?

[Rothman]

I say this cause in Florida we have transmission lines that follow the east coast for several hundred miles.  For those of you who travel the 40 mile exit less stretch from Yeehaw Junction to Fort Pierce for several miles along the road two sets of power lines follow the toll road fist on the left and then on the right.  On US 192 they cross at Deer Park and on SR 528 they pass over just west of SR 520.  They even cross I-4 on the 9 mile exit less stretch  between SR 44 and I-95. 

In St Lucie County they pass over SR 70 near the fairgrounds as just north of that state highway the two lines split.  One set continues across the highway west of CR 713 while the other heads east to then turn south over SR 70 at CR 712,  In Martin County they pass over County Highway 714 in two places, but when they get to SR 710 there is a third set of power lines as its 2-2 and then 1 further east.

Are there any maps that show the routes the lines take in not only Florida but the entire nation?

Topo quads do.

[Scott5114]

Power lines are also often shown on OpenStreetMap.

[kevinb1994]

Power lines are also often shown on OpenStreetMap.

I've seen them on there, quite interesting although they tend to get in the way sometimes.

[kphoger]

Crap, when did www.topozone.com start making you download stuff?

[ET21]

When I'm bored at work, sure do on Google Maps

[lepidopteran]

I say this cause in Florida we have transmission lines that follow the east coast for several hundred miles.  For those of you who travel the 40 mile exit less stretch from Yeehaw Junction to Fort Pierce for several miles along the road two sets of power lines follow the toll road fist on the left and then on the right.  On US 192 they cross at Deer Park and on SR 528 they pass over just west of SR 520.  They even cross I-4 on the 9 mile exit less stretch  between SR 44 and I-95. 

Have you noticed a change in appearance of the Florida power lines?  While there are at least two styles of pylon that I've only ever seen in Florida, these seem to be slowly disappearing (for storm resiliency?)

The transmission lines you describe have a similar appearance along the run -- larger, single circuit H-frames made of rust-colored (or wooden?) monopoles, with a jagged "M"-like appearance at the top.

Another style looks more like the conventional H-frames found elsewhere, but with two differences: (1) the poles are made of concrete instead of wood and have a square cross-section, and (2) they are double-circuit, with one circuit atop the other, instead of the traditional side-by-side.

In this view along I-95, there are two simple monopoles with insulated cross-arms -- one single- and one double-circuit.  But go back a few years and you got those double-circuit H-frames.  If you go further back -- both in zoom and in time -- one of the M-like H-frames is visible as well.

[kevinb1994]

I say this cause in Florida we have transmission lines that follow the east coast for several hundred miles.  For those of you who travel the 40 mile exit less stretch from Yeehaw Junction to Fort Pierce for several miles along the road two sets of power lines follow the toll road fist on the left and then on the right.  On US 192 they cross at Deer Park and on SR 528 they pass over just west of SR 520.  They even cross I-4 on the 9 mile exit less stretch  between SR 44 and I-95. 

Have you noticed a change in appearance of the Florida power lines?  While there are at least two styles of pylon that I've only ever seen in Florida, these seem to be slowly disappearing (for storm resiliency?)

The transmission lines you describe have a similar appearance along the run -- larger, single circuit H-frames made of rust-colored (or wooden?) monopoles, with a jagged "M"-like appearance at the top.

Another style looks more like the conventional H-frames found elsewhere, but with two differences: (1) the poles are made of concrete instead of wood and have a square cross-section, and (2) they are double-circuit, with one circuit atop the other, instead of the traditional side-by-side.

In this view along I-95, there are two simple monopoles with insulated cross-arms -- one single- and one double-circuit.  But go back a few years and you got those double-circuit H-frames.  If you go further back -- both in zoom and in time -- one of the M-like H-frames is visible as well.

This is something I've noticed since 1996.

[Michael]

I have before just out of curiousity, and to see what power plant my electricity comes from.  CNY has two different sets of east-west transmission lines, one south of the Thruway, and one on the north side.  The ones on the north side look to me to be heavier duty.  Here's what they look like.  They run from Niagara Falls to a substation north of Utica.  They go through a substation in Clay, but there's only a few branches.  The substation in Utica doesn't have a clear "through" path.

The ones on the south side of the Thruway have more variation in pole/tower design.  The most common design is the one on the right here.  Usually, the wooden pole would be the same as the metal tower on the right as well.  Sometimes, the metal towers have a square "beefier" design, which can be seen in the background on the next two towers along the right and middle lines.  The left-side line towers were replaced with monopoles a year or two ago (it looks like it was last year based on a bit of Googling).  The older Street View imagery shows the old towers. These lines run from a substation in Rochester (and ultimately to Niagara Falls) to a substation east of Elbridge.

For mapping power lines (and a bunch of other energy related stuff too) in the US, here's a good site.  I came across it while looking for maps of gas pipelines.

[Beltway]

Power lines are hard to follow on Google Maps Satellite View.  Too small.

[Stephane Dumas]

I have before just out of curiousity, and to see what power plant my electricity comes from.  CNY has two different sets of east-west transmission lines, one south of the Thruway, and one on the north side.  The ones on the north side look to me to be heavier duty.  Here's what they look like.  They run from Niagara Falls to a substation north of Utica.  They go through a substation in Clay, but there's only a few branches.  The substation in Utica doesn't have a clear "through" path.

The ones on the south side of the Thruway have more variation in pole/tower design.  The most common design is the one on the right here.  Usually, the wooden pole would be the same as the metal tower on the right as well.  Sometimes, the metal towers have a square "beefier" design, which can be seen in the background on the next two towers along the right and middle lines.  The left-side line towers were replaced with monopoles a year or two ago (it looks like it was last year based on a bit of Googling).  The older Street View imagery shows the old towers. These lines run from a substation in Rochester (and ultimately to Niagara Falls) to a substation east of Elbridge.

For mapping power lines (and a bunch of other energy related stuff too) in the US, here's a good site.  I came across it while looking for maps of gas pipelines.

North of the NY Thruway, there's also a 765 kilovolts lines coming from the Canadian border down to Utica who interconnect with Hydro-Quebec.

On TCH-20 from the Nicolet transformer station down to Boucherville, there's 2 735 kv power lines who are close to TCH-20. There's also power lines following A-30 from Sorel-Tracy down to La Prairie.

[kevinb1994]

Power lines are hard to follow on Google Maps Satellite View.  Too small.

Which is why OpenStreetMap works better for that.

[hotdogPi]

Power lines are hard to follow on Google Maps Satellite View.  Too small.

Which is why OpenStreetMap works better for that.

Around here, there is a very wide cleared path for power lines, and power lines would actually be easier to see than roads if pure satellite view (not hybrid) actually existed.

[kevinb1994]

Power lines are hard to follow on Google Maps Satellite View.  Too small.

Which is why OpenStreetMap works better for that.

Around here, there is a very wide cleared path for power lines, and power lines would actually be easier to see than roads if pure satellite view (not hybrid) actually existed.

Indeed, this is quite true.

[amroad17]

I have before just out of curiousity, and to see what power plant my electricity comes from.  CNY has two different sets of east-west transmission lines, one south of the Thruway, and one on the north side.  The ones on the north side look to me to be heavier duty.  Here's what they look like.  They run from Niagara Falls to a substation north of Utica.  They go through a substation in Clay, but there's only a few branches.  The substation in Utica doesn't have a clear "through" path.

The ones on the south side of the Thruway have more variation in pole/tower design.  The most common design is the one on the right here.  Usually, the wooden pole would be the same as the metal tower on the right as well.  Sometimes, the metal towers have a square "beefier" design, which can be seen in the background on the next two towers along the right and middle lines.  The left-side line towers were replaced with monopoles a year or two ago (it looks like it was last year based on a bit of Googling).  The older Street View imagery shows the old towers. These lines run from a substation in Rochester (and ultimately to Niagara Falls) to a substation east of Elbridge.

For mapping power lines (and a bunch of other energy related stuff too) in the US, here's a good site.  I came across it while looking for maps of gas pipelines.

I used to live a couple of miles from the south side of the Thruway power line path after the split east of Elbridge.  It is within the last two years that the smaller three wire line has been replaced by the six wire line seen in your second Google photo.  The three wire set is still in use east of the substation heading toward Camillus and Fairmount.  One six wire set (middle one) stays with the three wire set and the other six wire set heads toward Interchange 39 on the Thruway.

In the mid 1980's, a new path was constructed from north of Baldwinsville, crossed the Thruway between mm 296 and 297, went east and south of Memphis, into the woods behind where my grandparents lived, to the substation east of Elbridge.  Then this path headed toward Marcellus, then Nedrow, and crossed I-81 just north of the Nedrow interchange.  Not sure where it headed after that (too late to investigate).  These are on wooden poles with railroad tie cross arms in which the insulators hold two wires each (except at points where the direction changes, there are wide base metal towers).  I am not quite sure why this path was built.

[hbelkins]

It's interesting to follow the cleared lines across the mountains on Google Maps satellite view to see where the transmission lines that pass through your area go. There's one Kentucky Utilities line that I've picked up in Madison County and followed across the mountains to somewhere east of Cumberland in Harlan County. I'm not sure where it goes from there; possibly into Virginia as the southwestern corner of that state is served by Old Dominion, formerly a sister company to KU.

[ET21]

Power lines are hard to follow on Google Maps Satellite View.  Too small.

Smaller ones yes, the high-tension towers are easy to follow

[Stephane Dumas]

More complicated to follow is some power lines like the ones of 50 or 69 kv who got dismantled and replaced with 120kv like here in Quebec There was some 50kv/69kn power lines renmants who continue to survive as a more local use using a tension of 25kv like these examples.
https://www.google.com/maps/@45.543079,-72.657864,3a,75y,168.57h,103.01t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sFkwnnfui3a-NA5KR5cgDRg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
https://www.google.com/maps/@46.1225062,-71.6142789,3a,75y,286.74h,91.31t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sMukSlsDgvXNRC4EEEr8EQA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
https://www.google.com/maps/@46.1438161,-74.6521136,3a,75y,293.16h,101.07t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s0C2w8kKRDlxwLUDOU4-8hg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

But these renmants will dissapear once they replaced the electric poles.

[SectorZ]

Yes. Google Earth my town and you'll see why.

[roadman65]

I see Ossoning in NY has transmission lines that cross the Hudson River and then head southwest into NJ.  Though NJ does not subscribe to Con Ed, they get these lines tie into a substation in Readington Township off US 202.  I guess this is part of the national grid.

[MNHighwayMan]

More complicated to follow is some power lines like the ones of 50 or 69 kv who got dismantled and replaced with 120kv like here in Quebec There was some 50kv/69kn power lines renmants who continue to survive as a more local use using a tension of 25kv like these examples.
https://www.google.com/maps/@45.543079,-72.657864,3a,75y,168.57h,103.01t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sFkwnnfui3a-NA5KR5cgDRg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
https://www.google.com/maps/@46.1225062,-71.6142789,3a,75y,286.74h,91.31t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sMukSlsDgvXNRC4EEEr8EQA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
https://www.google.com/maps/@46.1438161,-74.6521136,3a,75y,293.16h,101.07t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s0C2w8kKRDlxwLUDOU4-8hg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

But these renmants will dissapear once they replaced the electric poles.

That's too bad. I love those old multi-part ceramic insulators.

[kevinb1994]

I see Ossoning in NY has transmission lines that cross the Hudson River and then head southwest into NJ.  Though NJ does not subscribe to Con Ed, they get these lines tie into a substation in Readington Township off US 202.  I guess this is part of the national grid.

I wasn't aware of this, thanks for this fact.