• EpicFailGuy@kbin.social
    61·
    1 year ago

    @MrJameGumb

    Interesting tidbit. Most places with high voltage lines use the land underneath them for parks or green spaces, since it’s illegal to zone them as residential due to the health risks of long term damage to humans caused by electromagnetic radiation

    (please someone correct me if I worded that wrong I read that article years ago)

    In my city there’s a green stripe that cuts right thru suburbia’s asphalt desert, it’s quite interesting.

    See if you can follow them from beginning to end: https://www.google.com/maps/@26.0169968,-80.278912,3203m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu

    They from Palmetto expressway where they use the highway perimeter to continue into Miami all the way up to Port everglades.

    • jubilationtcornpone@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      6·
      1 year ago

      Technically the land under the power lines is the utility right-of-way. The utility has an easement so they essentially own it. How much land on either side of the pole they own varies based on a bunch of factors. The main goal is to keep trees from growing close to the lines because they can short out the phases if the branches come in contact with them.

      The voltage on the lines in OP’s photo probably isn’t that high since at least some of them are distribution lines. If you go to a substation where you’re in close proximity to the transmission lines that come from the power plant, those can be well into the hundreds of thousands of volts. They can literally make your hair stand on end. When the weather is just right, you can hear the static electricity in the air crackling around them. It’s freaky.

      Source: Used to work in utilities.

      • s_s@lemmy.one
        1·
        1 year ago

        When I thru-hiked the Arizona Trail, there was one section that involved crossing under some high voltage transmission lines, my hair stood up and also because i wasn’t anywhere near a water source there were no bird noises and the cracking the power lines was almost the only sound other than my footsteps that I heard that day.

        There was a real sense of, “civilization is around me but NOWHERE close”.