Reels from utility undergrounding and cable replacement
Utility cable work empties more large reels than anything else in Southern California. LADWP replaces underground cable inside the City of Los Angeles every year, and Southern California Edison is undergrounding and re-conductoring lines across its territory. Their contractors' laydown yards fill with 60 to 96 inch reels, and we clear them by the deck.
- Usual flanges
- 60 to 96 in
- Areas it fills
- 6
- Lanes
- 4
Utility undergrounding and cable replacement around Los Angeles
Two utilities own most of the street cable on our map. Inside the City of Los Angeles, the Department of Water and Power runs a Power System Reliability Program that replaced 61.5 miles of underground cable and 3,683 poles in fiscal 2025-26, and it plans 66 miles of cable by the middle of 2027. Across most of the rest of the region, Southern California Edison is working through a wildfire mitigation plan that combines covered conductor on overhead lines with new underground distribution, and after the 2025 fires it drew up a preliminary plan to put about 153 circuit miles underground in Altadena and Malibu.
City utilities in Anaheim, Riverside, Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena and Vernon do the same work on their own systems, on a smaller scale. Every mile of underground cable arrives on a reel, usually a bolted one between 60 and 96 inches, and many of those reels are owned by the cable maker and meant to go back.
The reels themselves are often old friends. A bolted utility reel can make many trips between a cable plant and a job site before it is retired, which is why so many carry a stencil and why we always ask before loading one.
Where the reels pile up
Utility reels collect in laydown yards: fenced lots near substations and along major streets where a contractor stages cable for a season of work. Others end up in the contractor's own yard when a job wraps up. On our map, the biggest concentrations are around the LADWP work in the San Fernando Valley, the harbour and South Los Angeles, Edison's undergrounding in the foothills and canyons, and city-utility work in Anaheim and Riverside.
What kind of reels
Mostly bolted reels from 60 to 96 inches, with some smaller nailed reels for secondary and service cable. A large share are stencilled and returnable; the rest are one-way reels that the contractor has to dispose of.
How a pickup fits the work
Utility work runs on schedules, permits and gate procedures, so pickups do too. We plan around the contractor's laydown calendar: when a yard is closing down or making room for the next phase, we bring a flatbed and clear the empties in full runs. Stencilled reels are checked first and set aside if their owner wants them back.
Where the reels go next
Utility reels have a long second life when the wood is sound. Bolted reels in good condition go to contractors who store and pull their own large cable, and to ranches that use them for hose, rope and fencing wire. Reels with rotted flange edges, from months on wet ground, or bent bolts are broken down: the timber is recycled and the steel goes for scrap.
A pickup, stop by stop
Sort by owner
Separate stencilled, returnable reels from one-way reels, and tell us whose they are.
Count by flange
Group the one-way reels by flange size: 60, 72, 84 and 96 inch are the usual ones.
Book the gate
Give us the laydown yard's address, gate hours, site contact and any safety orientation.
Clear in runs
We plan full decks, 16 to 28 reels each depending on size, until the yard is clear.
Reel sizes from utility undergrounding and cable replacement
Lanes that serve utility undergrounding and cable replacement
- Lane 4San Fernando Valley, 5 and 118Sun Valley, Pacoima, Van Nuys, Canoga Park, Chatsworth
- Lane 1Ports and the 710Wilmington, Long Beach, Carson, Rancho Dominguez
- Lane 7North Orange County, 91 and 57Buena Park, Fullerton, Anaheim, Orange
- Lane 9Riverside, the 215 and the 15 southCorona, Riverside, Moreno Valley, Perris, Temecula
Other industries that empty reels here
Questions from utility undergrounding and cable replacement
Do you work for the utilities?
No. We collect empty reels from the contractors and yards that do utility work, when they have reels to clear.
What happens to returnable utility reels?
They go back to their owner. We set them aside and tell you who owns them; we do not resell someone else's reel.
How many utility reels make a full run?
Between 16 and 28 on a 53 foot flatbed, depending on flange size. Ninety-six inch reels fill a deck at 16.
Can you clear a laydown yard in one day?
A small one, often. A large yard may take several runs over a week or two.