• U.S.

Suburbia: Underground Movement

2 minute read
TIME

As everyone will agree, the best place for a utility or telephone line is underground, where it cannot be seen. But many a new subdivision still bristles with overhead wires and poles for the simple reason that going underground costs the developer more money. Last month the Federal Housing Administration decreed that all new residential subdivisions will have to have under ground wiring to qualify for FHA-insured mortgage loans.

The FHA’s new posture was partially prompted by Lyndon Johnson’s America the Beautiful campaign, but more important, it reflected recent technological developments that had made subterranean wiring economically feasible. In the past, power companies could bury the wires but not the large, boxlike transformers, which were almost as offensive as the old wires. Developers balked not only at the cost but also at the fact that every sixth house had to have a transformer, and the lot with the transformer on it was always hard to sell, even at a reduced price.

Then came Total Underground. The new system was developed last year by Puget Sound Power & Light Co., with a boost from the Pacific Northwest Bell Telephone Co. It buries everything, including transformers, which are submerged in deep, grate-covered pits. Thanks to newly developed, highly insulated coverings, the cables can be dropped into machine-dug trenches without the cumbersome metal casings of previous systems. And the telephone company can put its lines in the same trench, cutting costs even further.

Even with these savings, Total Underground still costs about $160 extra a lot. But Puget persuaded the FHA that the beauty of a wireless front lawn increased the value of the average subdivisions plot by $200. As a result, the FHA upped its assessments of houses so serviced, allowing local banks to offer proportionately increased FHA-guaranteed mortgages to prospective homeowners. Thus the homeowner can spread the increased cost of his mortgage over 20 years.

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