Bundled wires needed
Trees can coexist well with utility wires to “camouflage” the poles and wires while assuring safe and reliable electric service. What needs to be done? In urban areas, poles with crossarms need to be replaced with “bundled” wires using spacer cables.
Crossarms take up an enormous amount of space, requiring utility tree pruners to disfigure trees to provide enough clearance from the wires. Note the pole at left has a crossarm carrying four wires. But about 50 feet to the left of the crossarm, the wires have been “bundled” together and separated with a a cross-shaped plastic “spacer” that separates the wires. Bundled wiring requires far less clearance, because trees can grow around and over bundled wiring
Trees can grow around bundled wires
Thanks to bundled wiring, this maple tree is growing up and around the electric line. If there were a number of these trees in a row, the utility line would be almost invisible from the street.
Trees can hide bundled wires in winter and summer
The photo above and those below show the same trees in both winter and summer. They demonstrate how trees can hide utility wires throughout the year. Because the tree limbs have been allowed to grow up and around the power lines, it is difficult to see them from the street.
