Old streetcar pole removal a slow process
The TTC seems to take a leisurely approach to removing old streetcar poles that have been replaced, but says it has good reasons for going slow.
This fall, we wrote about the sawedoff stub of a decommissioned pole that was used to suspend streetcar wires at the corner of King and Emily Sts.
The sharp-edged remnant was left on the street for more than a year before it was removed, after our column ran.
That prompted notes about other poles taken out of service, chopped off about one metre above ground and left to languish.
It had us wondering why pole removal is a two-part process, and why part two can take so long to happen.
While Toronto Hydro is responsible for the vast majority of utility poles, the TTC has 6,000 of its own poles on streetcar routes, and has for years been slowly replacing them and removing the old ones.
Removal of an entire old pole can drag on for many months, so we asked the TTC about the process, and why it leaves a remnant on the street that can be dangerous to pedestrians and cyclists.
TTC spokesperson Stuart Green said 3,400 old poles have been removed so far, and 3,550 new ones installed in an “ongoing project that cycles though the asset, replacing (poles) once every 35 to 40 years. Ultimately, they all get replaced on a rotating basis.”
When we asked about the timing of taking down the remaining poles, Green said one of the reasons for delay is that other utilities also have wires hooked up to them, which slows down the removal process.
The timing “is dependent on other utilities transferring their infrastructure to the new pole, which allows us to remove the old poles. As this is an ongoing project, the scheduled combined total of poles installed and removed for 2017 and 2018 is 225 to 250 a year.”
But why doesn’t the TTC remove the entire pole at once, instead of leaving a one-metre stub on the street for months or even a year or more?
“Every attempt is made to do it this as quickly as possible. However, road noise and occupancy restrictions usually do not allow us to continue the work until the following day, and on rare occasions, longer,” Green said.
“The two-step process makes the removal faster, safer and least disruptive to traffic. It is much easier to manoeuvre the cut pole from between the overhead live wires and remove the stub afterwards.
Typically, Green says, the contractor will grab the pole with a crane or other device, cut the pole approxi- mately 300 to 600 millimetres above grade, load the pole onto a trailer and put a construction barrel over the stub to make it safe.
“Within 48 hours they return with a backhoe, dump truck and vacuum truck to complete the work. The area is finished with a temporary repair as per city standards and the city later makes the permanent repairs.”
The TTC’s explanation and reasoning adds up, but based on what readers have told us, the lag time between part one and part two of the removal procedure takes a lot longer than 48 hours.
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