Editor – Can you give me an update on the status of the hospital and burying the power lines?
Certainly. |
|
|
The Island Hospital
Recently Dr. Ybarra gave an update to Chamber of Commerce members at a Coffee and Conversation. His passion for this concept remains as strong as ever and seems to grow. The problem is that his investors do not share that same passion. In fact, during the presentation, he used the word "investors" more than he did "hospital." |
| |
|
Sarah Lozano, our reporter, has been digging into this. She will have a multi-part series coming out soon. |
|
|
| Burying Power Lines
We cannot update the underground utilities because there is no existing city plan for this. The concept came from an article in The Economist that ranked the major cities in the world by "livability." One of the critical components was "resilience."
|
|
|
A big part of resilience in a hurricane susceptible area comes from minimizing the loss of electrical power after a storm event.
When we compared South Padre Island to the methodology used by The Economist, our mayor and city manager said that SPI has a policy that for any new developments, all utilities must be underground. Mayor McNulty pointed to the two latest developments at the island's north end, where all utilities are underground. When asked why the city didn't extend this policy to the rest of the island, the one-word answer was "cost."
|
|
|
What is the cost? Island Matters contacted two of the largest engineering firms in the state. These firms have extensive municipal experience and have done work for the state, cities, counties, university systems, and school and hospital districts. In turn, they connected us with their primary electrical subcontractors. |
|
|
|
"If you are replacing a downed power line today, it costs four times as much to put it underground as it does to string it overhead. But that is not the case for new construction. In planned communities and new developments, it is much easier to put utilities underground as a part of the master-planned infrastructure build. That is why many cities, counties, and states have developed regulations like South Padre Island that require new developments to put all utilities underground. But I think you are asking the wrong question.
|
|
|
| Asking the wrong question "Only affluent cities can afford to bury all their power lines immediately. The cities, counties, and states (they frequently mentioned Florida) that either have done it or are doing it successfully have taken a ten or 20-year approach.
"For a small community like yours to do this well, it needs to adopt a 20-year plan. About every 20 years, a street has to be rebuilt entirely. |
|
|
When that happens, every sub-surface infrastructure should be at least examined and probably replaced. At that time, every utility can be placed appropriately.
"There are lots of rules and formulas that must be followed on depth and distance. The very shallow water table complicates it on your island, but these are the same issues in Florida, and the industry has learned a lot by going through the processes there." I asked if sidewalks could be used and whether transmission lines could be buried.
"No to both. Using sidewalks is inefficient because they don't necessarily have to be replaced when a street is rebuilt. Many other approaches to sidewalks can be improved, but using them as conduits is not one of them.
"Transmission lines are a separate issue. We have transmission lines (the huge ones that run down Padre Blvd.), feeder lines (we see them bringing power to substations), and distribution lines (the wooden poles that run along sidewalks and alleys and bring energy to individual buildings. It is the distribution lines that need to go underground for existing construction. |
|
|
"Distribution lines are the ones that take the longest to repair and replace after a significant weather event. When removed, the wires and wooden poles offer the most visible aesthetic gains. Transmission lines are easier to fix (because they seldom have vegetation-causing losses, i.e., trees, vines, etc.) and are much more complex. They are extremely hot, so liquid nitrogen often runs through them to cool them. |
| |
|
"If your city developed a 20-year plan to bury its infrastructure, an engineering firm would develop a plan from the street surface down for your entire community. Then your community would discuss it, have input, and accept it (by either a council or public vote). The plan would have two parts. The first would be the plan itself for infrastructure replacement. The second would be 'emergencies.' "What if there was a hurricane? Would you rebuild your current infrastructure or use that event to accelerate your plan? You would ask the same question about smaller events like a water main break or a sewer line collapse. "The fewer times we dig up a street, the less it costs over time, and the less frequently residents are inconvenienced. Much of the cost of burying infrastructure is demolishing a street and digging it up. Why not complete the entire block if you have to do that anyway?"
|
|
|
A vision and a plan They clarified that it is not the cost but how we distribute and aggregate the costs by "only tear(ing) up the street once." It is also 100% dependent on our city having a plan, but the plan must come from our citizens' desire for a more resilient and beautiful city. |
| |
|
George Block is the Editor of Island Matters. |
| |
|
|
