Piling on the Pylons

"A public inquiry into plans for a 137-mile power line through the Scottish countryside has begun." Full story at BBC News

I've already stated my thoughts on this sort of development in earlier posts. The companies want to do this in the cheapest way possible, and don't care about the damage to tourism.

Strange that although technology in other engineering fields has advanced so much since the original pylons were built, that power transmission technology hasn't improved so that the old pylons, or pylons as small as the old ones could be built. But then, I don't know about these matters, and have to trust to the experts of the power companies who will have considered all these options.

Oh, it's a dilemma. But that's why we have government enquiries. So that independent experts can discuss matters in a democratic fashion, and come to the best decision for the country.

Here's a sample solution - have one 'backbone', the A9. Make it dual carriageway all the way, with real junctions, and run the pylons down that backbone. Just 'scar' one main route, rather than ripping the country apart because it's the most direct route, or whatever reason they give for it.