Dismantling a pole in Sioux Falls, SD
A photo essay by David Dahle
In August 2004, an old Xcel Energy (ex-NSP) powerline near downtown Sioux Falls was being removed in sections as the city of Sioux Falls redeveloped an old industrial site into an extension of its namesake park. One day after work, I passed by the site on my way home and saw a crew working on the south end of the line. I happened to have my digital camera with me and pulled into an adjacent parking lot and observed one lineman as he cleaned up one of the last poles on this line. Ironically, the line being removed was 13kV while the other line in the background (visible in first photo) is only 4kV and remains in service!
As I pulled up, the lineman had just freed up one wire from the crossarm,
and was lowering it to where he could safely let it go without hitting parked cars under the line.
He had to get a ways down before he could safely drop the wire.
Untying the first insulator on the second phase...
...and now the other insulator.
...and the second phase is loose - but that'll be some lifting to get it over those 2 insulators...
The lineman unbolted and dropped one insulator to the ground (with a definite *smuck* as it hit the gravel)
and is now lowering the wire to the ground.
The lineman pulled out and threw down the other crossarm pin and is now removing the pole pin on this side.
Moving into position to unhook the last wire...
but let's get some bolts loosened up first!
The second pole pin is gone, and the lineman is now reaching around to get at a stubborn tie wire.
All the tie wires are off, and the lineman is now going after the nuts holding the last 2 pins in place
(and once again, that *smuck* sound followed a few seconds later as the pins hit the ground)
The lineman stops for a moment to talk with the other crew that just finished cleaning off the other poles to the north that also had security lights in place.
No need to lower the cable now - let's take a shortcut!
"You OK down there?" (couldn't resist) The lineman was actually making sure the wire didn't hit anything on its way down,
and another lineman on the ground was pulling the wires on the ground together so they could be wound onto a spool.
...and now lowering the other part of the wire to the ground.
And now to take care of the rest of the hardware!
Some work on the bolts with a hammer and the wrench to loosen the arm and...
HEADS UP!!! (*crash*)
The lineman on the ground now wants the remnant of the neutral... *snip*
Cleaning off the wire from the neutral brackets...
and back up to the other crossarm...
...which the lineman has just thrown off the pole.
At this point, all that remained was for the lineman to clean off the ground wire and remaining hardware
so the top part of the pole could be cut off (but the pole and its remaining neighbors were gone anyway within a couple months)
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Last updated Wednesday, March 2, 2005