Favorite types of power lines along highways

[Zmapper]

My favorite type of power line is the one that doesn't exist due to the power company relocating the distribution network underground.

For transmission lines, I don't really have a preference, but I favor unpainted steel over the s***-brown pylons the power company installed to "blend in with the natural background".

[Dr Frankenstein]

As a child on roadtrips with my parents, I would stare at power lines for a great part of the trips. I still do, sometimes. I don't have a favourite type, though.

[Henry]

Gotta love the classic lattice towers!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmission_tower

[2Co5_14]

There's the famous "Mickey Mouse" power pole outside Disney World in Florida.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Orlando,+FL&hl=en&ll=28.303669,-81.57338&spn=0.00098,0.00154&sll=33.786651,-84.386906&sspn=0.000657,0.00077&oq=orlando&t=h&hnear=Orlando,+Orange,+Florida&z=20&layer=c&cbll=28.303669,-81.57338&panoid=205e6Tp_6Prp3vxpzekx4w&cbp=12,281.53,,0,3.06

[Dr Frankenstein]

^ I love this.

[Stephane Dumas]

Besides power lines, I remember when I was very young, some old telephone lines along some roads who was there until the late 1970s-early 1980s, a bit similar to this one in the following picture http://lookandsee.me/2004/08/page/11/

There was also some former power lines dismantled and replaced by others, the old 69kv and 50kv lines we got here in Quebec are "endangered species".
http://www.hydroelectricite.ca/en/info-images.php?id=12

[hm insulators]

As a child on roadtrips with my parents, I would stare at power lines for a great part of the trips. I still do, sometimes. I don't have a favourite type, though.

Same here, which is how I eventually got into collecting insulators.

[cpzilliacus]

For transmission lines, I don't really have a preference, but I favor unpainted steel over the s***-brown pylons the power company installed to "blend in with the natural background".

Virginia Electric Power Company (VEPCo), now known as Dominion Virginia Power (DVP), built a lot of its 500 KV transmission network in the 1960's using pylons built out of the "brown" (Cor-Ten) steel (example in GSV here - this structure has been demolished and replaced with a new one out of galvanized steel since the Google camera came through the area of Bismarck, W.Va. - this is what the new pylons look like (same line where it crosses U.S. 220 has been recently imaged by Google)).

According to DVP (here), the Cor-Ten steel was not an especially good choice for the pylons:

The lattice towers on the existing line were made of a high strength low alloy material introduced in the 1960s called weathering steel (Corten). Weathering steel is designed to create an iron oxide patina that is supposed to protect the steel such that no other surface coating is required, thus reducing maintenance costs. Patinas have a dark brown uniform appearance that blends into the natural background. Corten was advertised as a superior product designed for longevity requiring less maintenance (no painting) over its projected 60-year life. Over the years however, Corten steel has proven to be anything but maintenance free. It has been found to have inherent corrosion problems that continuously deteriorate the steel members in lattice type towers.

[UptownRoadGeek]

These and these.

[SteveG1988]

There's a lot of people who hate the sight of those damn power lines (although they're probably the same people who complain first when there's a blackout due to lack of transmission capacity) but I like to see the myriad of designs many power companies use.

What are some of your favorite types of power line designs seen along roads/highways?

Mine include this type used across the Mid Atlantic states (this specific picture along I-81 in PA):

(source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/versageek/3637288836/)

I always thought those looked like cat heads

[Dr Frankenstein]

I always thought those looked like cat heads

Ditto. We have similar ones in QC, notably along A-30. The way they handle angles looks weird and unbalanced.

[SteveG1988]

I always thought those looked like cat heads

Ditto. We have similar ones in QC, notably along A-30. The way they handle angles looks weird and unbalanced.

There are a few near me that only have the power lines on one side

[cpzilliacus]

Two 500 kVa transmission circuits on one set of structures crossing Md. 97 (Georgia Avenue) near Sunshine in Montgomery County here.

[SteveG1988]

If you see those, they are for 25kv amtrak

[broadhurst04]

This has always been my favorite sort of power pole: http://ts3.mm.bing.net/th?id=H.4751927262579858&pid=15.1

[Road Hog]

This has always been my favorite sort of power pole: http://ts3.mm.bing.net/th?id=H.4751927262579858&pid=15.1

Those are the monopoles talked about upthread. I like them because they require much less right-of-way in urban areas.

[cpzilliacus]

If you see those, they are for 25kv amtrak

Yeah, with 8 conductors, it sure as Hades is not a "normal" transmission line.

The north end of this line is at the Safe Harbor Dam, right?  I know the southern end is at the Amtrak N.E. Corridor at Perryville.

[SteveG1988]

If you see those, they are for 25kv amtrak

Yeah, with 8 conductors, it sure as Hades is not a "normal" transmission line.

The north end of this line is at the Safe Harbor Dam, right?  I know the southern end is at the Amtrak N.E. Corridor at Perryville.

Correct

[cpzilliacus]

This old 500,000 volt line crossed U.S. 340 in Jefferson County, W.Va. 

I use past tense because it has probably been torn down by now, to be replaced by new conductors on new pylons, where the new line will again carry power from Dominion Virginia Power's (DVP) Mount Storm Generating Station in Grant County, W.Va. (yes, along Corridor H) to a substation near Doubs, Frederick County, Md.  Parts of the replacement structure lie on the ground under the existing line conductors, and wood utility poles are already in place to reduce interference with highway traffic when the old conductors are taken down and the new ones strung.



This style of pylon was commonly used by DVP to build a network of 500,000 volt transmission lines across Virginia and nearby areas of West Virginia and Maryland in the 1960's.  They were built of Corten steel, which was new in the 1960's, but was not a good choice for  structures like these.

As DVP stated in testimony to Virginia utility regulators (expanding on the post above):

The structures of the existing Mt. Storm-Doubs line are weathering steel lattice-type. Weathering steel is sold under the name COR-TEN, a registered trademark of the United States Steel Corporation. Corten, as it is sometimes referred to, is an alloy of steel that develops a protective coating of dark brown rust when exposed to the weather. The rust is intended to protect the steel and eliminate the need to apply paint or other protective coating. In contrast, galvanized steel, the traditional material for lattice structures, ultimately needs to be painted when the protective zinc coating corrodes away.  Corten was a new and promising material for transmission line structures at the time the Mt. Storm-Doubs line was built in the early 1960s. It was promoted as never needing painting and having a lifetime of 60 years, in comparison to the expected lifetime of 40 to 60 years for traditional galvanized structure steel. However, corten has shown an unexpected rate of corrosion in the presence of moisture. One effect has been cracking of some of the minor, thinner structural tower members that are under tension stress. This is due to the corrosion having substantially reduced the metal cross sections of the failed members.

A more serious effect of the corrosion occurs where two pieces of corten steel are overlapped and bolted together at a splice, a gusset, or a pin joint. The close-contact interface thus created retards the rate of moisture drying within the interface and the rate of corrosion is increased. Further, this corrosion that is trapped within the interface (referred to as "pack rust") creates expansive force and the lapped steel pieces, if they are not sufficiently stiff, will be distorted outward by the growing layers of rust in the interface in a process referred to as "pack-out." In addition to the distortion of the steel members, the expansive force of pack-out can cause joint bolts to break under tensile stress. Virginia Power began noticing pack-out on the Mt. Storm-Doubs line in the mid-1970s, only 10 years into the line's life. Since lattice structures inherently contain numerous bolted joints, Virginia Power no longer uses corten steel for lattice structures.

[lepidopteran]

A set of power lines along I-95 in MD at and near the Capital Beltway is about to be replaced.

These are the twin PEPCO power lines that run along I-95 starting just north of the MD-212 exit, and continue on over the Beltway, apparently following close to the route that I-95 was originally supposed to take before it was cancelled.  You have one set of taller monopoles and one of shorter cat-like lattices (though for a single instance they are both currently monopole as they cross the Beltway, presumably to clear that SB flyover ramp movement.)  The lattices will be replaced by monopoles.  Already, a lot of those goalpost-like temporary wooden poles have been placed where the lines cross roadways, including the ICC.  Some of the insulators have been replaced by pulleys.  The pulleys facilitate removing (and eventually, restringing) the conductors, during which time the wood poles keep the wires off the highway.

The lattice towers that are to be replaced are actually quite unusual, at least in my experience.  The cat-like structures (OK, I think the technical term is "H-frame") are typically designed to carry only 3 "phases" or wires, i.e., a single circuit.  These, however, had been retrofitted some time ago to be double-circuit, with 6 phases.  As such, it's no wonder they're getting replaced.

[NJRoadfan]

I always found these poles along US-202 between NJ and PA interesting: https://goo.gl/maps/WPCfb

There is a design change in PA before the line switches back to lattice towers: https://goo.gl/maps/ayST1

[adventurernumber1]

I always thought that these types of power lines were cool:

https://www.google.com/maps/@28.8434708,-82.0645281,3a,75y,141.44h,90.08t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sqOHul9ThpjatxOhGxTMJ-w!2e0

[Henry]

These are very common all over the Carolinas...

3+1 setup, wooden pylons: https://www.google.com/maps/@35.2326733,-81.1945641,3a,75y,82.85h,85.73t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sjRY6_Czk1YkSqr2N2AAGWg!2e0
6+2 setup, wooden pylons: https://www.google.com/maps/@35.1080966,-81.2029748,3a,75y,298.81h,109.75t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1synft3RUQ3uDR7WhWTaPJqA!2e0 (this is accompanied by steel pylons on the right)
Former 6+1 setup, lattice towers: https://www.google.com/maps/@35.2476256,-81.1790711,3a,75y,257.41h,84.44t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sP2DaFeSj75BjW3atW6nViw!2e0

[NYhwyfan]

Living in Buffalo near Niagara Falls has its advantages

I-190 - Lewiston, NY
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.1230824,-79.0127266,3a,75y,297.15h,92.93t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sonuZQkxdGgyqrevs96R6VA!2e0
NY 31 - Lewiston, NY
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.1301313,-79.0224904,3a,75y,351h,90.21t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1seHaDTGDcojhwVozPwxuo-g!2e0
Robert Moses Pkwy - Niagara Falls, NY - crossing Niagara River
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.074419,-79.0026185,3a,75y,133.37h,95t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s75Ca-ld5L3u_iT8ZycVEGQ!2e0
I-990/I-290 - Amherst, NY
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.9979234,-78.8058216,3a,75y,268.15h,97.65t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1stDw1qpIZXv58Ev9uDnVfAw!2e0
I-90/Thruway - Cheektowaga, NY - note towers painted for air traffic since its near the Buffalo Airport
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.9075284,-78.7681555,3a,75y,187.09h,89.91t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s5WDFopPL4LKyzCBj7dEyYg!2e0