Power Outages

Huricane Irene leaves much of the East Coast without power, again.

After WWII much of Europe, due to the devastation and danger from downed power lines during the war, went to underground cables for their electric grid. Much of our critical public infrastructure lags far behind - to wit our electric grid. Unfortunately the strategy of privatization and deregulation lead to utilities prioritizing profit in favor of, keeping up with the rest of the world, never mind leadership and innovation.

Underground cables buried beneath interstate highways might provide a convenient avenue for unobtrusively extending the power grid and bringing it up to the level of today's science: super conducting, DC strategies, etc. etc.

Furthermore, cables beneath the highway could afford supplemental power to trucks and automobiles by direct induction while spreading along the roadway above.