UTILITIES: About the pile of poles @ Hiawatha

| Utilities | West Seattle news

Utility-pole replacements are of a bit more interest than usual ever since an old pole came down withuut warning in Morgan Junction two weeks ago. So we asked Seattle City Light about that delivery of poles on the east side of Hiawatha Community Center on Friday, after Rob Braby sent the photo. SCL’s Julie Moore just sent the info:

The poles are not for one job. The contractor will be replacing poles at multiple locations scattered around the vicinity. As a matter of efficiency, they simply delivered all the poles (actually, eight poles, I believe) at one time and left them on a public right-of-way in advance of work that will begin this week. Our pause in planned outages remains in place, so there will be no outages with this replacement work. The old poles will be tied to the new poles and we’ll return at a later time when we will take a temporary outage to transfer the equipment and remove the old pole.

Janet M Migliore May 25, 2020 (11:55 am)

The same thing was done at 43rd and Webster and along 44th alley and California Avenue. It has been nearly 4 years and no one has returned to change over wiring.The rotted poles sit side by side with the new ones with unsightly writing on them. (Eye sore and perhaps danger of falling.) No effort has been done to remove the old.

Tina May 25, 2020 (12:49 pm)

The same thing was done at my work. Two poles where left next to the road for 4 years. My coworker told me it was extra. I got it removed, by going up to Seattle Light workers, who were working in the area, for another reason. They removed the poles within a week.
- Craig May 26, 2020 (9:44 pm)
  
  Love “to remove at a later date.” My guess is that if you don’t ask it’s not going anywhere… Guess I’ve gotta round me up some SCL workers for the lovely pole outside our dining room window. I asked the SCL replacement worker who said something about leaving it for another contractor. I think we’re approaching 6 months at this point.
Gatewooder May 26, 2020 (7:49 am)

Delayed pole removal same on Holly between California and 42nd. At the NE corner of California/Holly, the old pole remains and two poles were added. What do SCL’s policies say about how long old poles remain?