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Status of Cooperative Work on Joint Use of Poles

01 April 1931

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E L E P H O N E and electric light and power services are supplied in the same areas and to customers who are to a large extent common to both utilities. It is therefore necessary that both types of service be carried along the same streets and highways. Experience has shown that safer and more satisfactory conditions can often be secured if the power and telephone circuits are carried on the same poles. This is due in part to the fact that clearances and climbing space can be more readily maintained where both classes of circuit are carried on the same poles rather than on separate poles on the same side of the street. Where separate lines are placed on opposite sides of the streets and alleys, it is difficult to secure and maintain proper clearances for service wires to buildings where these cross the line of the other utility. Joint use of poles by the power and telephone companies results in the use of fewer poles on streets and highways and better appearance of aerial lines. It is, therefore, more desirable from the public point of view. It conserves pole timber and in m a n y cases is more economical to both classes of utility than separate lines. Because of the above mentioned advantages, joint use of poles by power and telephone companies has been widely adopted. No complete data are available as to the extent of such joint use at the present time, but it is estimated that there are at least five million poles j o i n t l y used by the power and telephone companies in the United States.