LuxWhat is pole make-ready?
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How space on a pole is shared
Before a new fiber line can go on a utility pole, the pole needs room for it and the strength to carry it. Make-ready is the work that gets it there: measuring the pole, moving the lines in the way, and sometimes replacing the pole. This guide covers the space on a pole, the clearances in plain words, how loading is checked, and who does each step.
A utility pole is shared. The power company's lines are at the top, and communication lines from phone, cable and fiber companies sit lower. From the top down:
Supply space. The electric lines: high-voltage primary conductors at or near the top, then equipment such as transformers, the lower-voltage secondary lines and the neutral.
Safety zone. A required gap between the lowest power facility and the highest communication line, so a worker on a communication line stays clear of the power.
Communication space. Phone, cable TV and fiber lines, each on its own attachment, stacked with a set spacing between them.
Ground clearance. The height every line must keep above the road, driveway or yard below, measured at the lowest point of each span.
A new fiber line, usually lashed to a steel strand, needs its own spot in the communication space that keeps every required separation, both at the pole and along each span to the next pole.
Clearances and loading in plain words
The rules come from the National Electrical Safety Code (NESC), which most states adopt, sometimes with changes, and from the pole owner's construction standards, which can ask for more. In plain words, the clearance rules answer three questions:
Is the new line far enough from the power lines? At the pole and in the middle of the span, where lines sag by different amounts with heat and load.
Is it far enough from the other communication lines? Usually a set spacing at the pole, given in the owner's standard.
Is it high enough off the ground? At the lowest point of the span, with more height needed over roads than over areas where only people walk.
Loading is the strength question. Every line pulls on the pole, and wind and ice add force. The NESC divides the country into loading districts and sets the wind and ice cases a pole has to withstand. An engineer models the pole with its height, class, wood species, guys and every existing attachment, adds the new strand and cable, and checks that the pole stays within its strength limit. If it does not, the pole needs a new guy, a stronger pole, or a different route.
This guide describes common practice. It is not legal or engineering advice: the pole owner's standards, your attachment agreement and the rules where you build decide each case.
The make-ready steps, and who does what
Make-ready engineering usually runs in this order:
Field survey. A crew visits every pole and records its height, class, owner, each attachment and its height, guys, photos, and the clearance in each span.
Analysis. An engineer checks each pole for space, clearance and loading with the new line added.
Make-ready design. For each pole that fails, the engineer picks the least work that fixes it: move existing lines, add a guy, or replace the pole with a taller or stronger one.
Application. The new attacher sends the pole owner an application with the survey, the analysis and the proposed work.
Owner review. The pole owner checks the application and sends an estimate for the make-ready.
Make-ready construction. Each existing attacher moves its own line, and the power company does any work in the supply space.
Attach and inspect. The new line goes up, and the work is inspected.
The pole owner, usually an electric utility, a cooperative, a city or a phone company, approves each attachment and sets the standards. Existing attachers move their own lines. The new attacher, often an ISP or broadband operator, applies and usually pays for the make-ready its line requires. Engineering firms and contractors often do the survey and the analysis.
FCC rules set deadlines for each stage on the poles they cover, and allow one-touch make-ready (OTMR), where one approved contractor does the simple work for every attacher in a single visit. Some states set their own pole attachment rules instead, and poles owned by cooperatives and cities fall outside the federal rules. Check which rules apply to each owner on your route.
Worked example, key terms and questions
Worked example: no room on the pole
A pole carries power at the top, then a cable TV line 6 inches below the safety zone, then a phone line 12 inches lower. Say the owner's standard asks for 12 inches between communication lines, and the phone line already sags close to the lowest height allowed over the street. The new fiber has no compliant spot. The options, least work first:
Rearrange. Lowering both lines 12 inches would open a spot at the top, but the phone line would sag too low over the street. Not possible here.
Raise the power. If the power company moves its lowest facility up, the safety zone moves with it and makes room. This is supply-space work, done by the power company, and usually slower and costlier.
Replace the pole. A taller pole makes room for everyone, but every line has to transfer to it. It is the most work of all.
The engineer recommends the least work that keeps every clearance. Power work and pole replacements are not simple make-ready, so OTMR does not cover them, and poles like this one drive a route's cost and schedule.
Key terms
Make-ready: The work that prepares a pole for a new attachment: moving lines, adding guys or replacing the pole.
Pole attachment: A line or piece of equipment fixed to a pole owned by someone else.
Supply space: The upper part of the pole, used by the electric lines and equipment.
Communication space: The lower part of the pole, used by phone, cable TV and fiber lines.
Safety zone: The required gap between the lowest power facility and the highest communication line.
Pole loading analysis: A strength check of the pole under wind, ice and the pull of every line on it.
Strand: The steel messenger wire that an aerial fiber cable is lashed to.
OTMR: One-touch make-ready: one approved contractor does the simple communication-space work for every attacher in one visit.
Common questions
How long does make-ready take?
It varies widely with the pole owner, the number of poles and how much work each one needs. FCC rules set deadlines for each stage on the poles they cover, but routes with power work or pole replacements take longer. Ask each pole owner for its current timelines.
What is one-touch make-ready (OTMR)?
OTMR lets a new attacher use one approved contractor to do simple make-ready in the communication space for every attacher on the pole, in one visit, instead of waiting for each company to move its own line. Under FCC rules it covers simple work only, on the poles those rules apply to.
Who pays for make-ready?
Usually the new attacher whose line makes the work necessary. The details are set in the pole attachment agreement with each pole owner.
How Lux does this work
Lux drafts the make-ready work for every pole on a route: a verdict with its reasons, the options, and the application to the pole owner, ready for your engineer to review. See the make-ready demo.
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