Utility poles on 15-501

I was struck today, as I have been often in the past, by just how ugly the utility poles are out on 15-501 generally, and especially the stretch between the two Southern Village entrances.

At one point, I called Duke Power to ask about this and was told the economics did not justify burying them and that outages would occur more frequently and be more difficult to repair if they buried the lines. That's their view in any case, or was.....