Councilors take informational tour on burying power lines
By KEVIN CANFIELD World Staff Writer on Aug 22, 2013, at 5:20 PM Updated on 8/22/13 at 5:21 PM
George Heady of AEP-PSO explains how electricity is transmitted Thursday during a tour of downtown with city councilors. Heady was speaking in an alley between Detroit and Elgin avenues and First and Second streets. KEVIN CANFIELD/Tulsa World
Tulsa City Council
Mayor Dewey Bartlett and former Mayor Kathy Taylor have eight weeks to make their cases before voters go to the polls Nov. 12.
Michigan-based Horizon Group Properties and Charlotte, N.C.-based Collett & Associates, the developer of the Tulsa Hills shopping center, seek to build a large outlet mall on a 64.8-acre parcel at 129th East Avenue and Interstate 44, officials said.
Three city councilors and council staff took a short walking tour with PSO officials Thursday afternoon to learn more about placing power lines underground.
Exploring that possibility was one of the shared goals agreed upon by the City Council and Mayor's Office earlier this year.
Thursday's tour was for informational purposes. The council has no plans to seek more underground power lines.
Steve Baker, AEP-PSO vice president of distribution operations, told councilors that it costs $600,000-to-$1.5 million a mile to install underground power lines.
That does not include the cost of excavation.
Installing above-ground lines cost a third or a fourth of that, Baker said.
Councilors Jack Henderson, Jeannie Cue and Skip Steele went on the tour.
Councilors left from the City Hall entrance at Second Street and Cincinnati Avenue at 4 p.m. and walked east on Second Street to an alley between Detroit and Elgin avenues.
The alley was chosen as a stopping point because it has many above-ground lines and transformers.
Tulsa City Council
Mayor Dewey Bartlett and former Mayor Kathy Taylor have eight weeks to make their cases before voters go to the polls Nov. 12.
Michigan-based Horizon Group Properties and Charlotte, N.C.-based Collett & Associates, the developer of the Tulsa Hills shopping center, seek to build a large outlet mall on a 64.8-acre parcel at 129th East Avenue and Interstate 44, officials said.
