Section 24-408. Electrical conductors; Manhattan and the Bronx; duties of commissioner of transportation

a.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  commissioner  of  transportation  to  carefully  investigate any and all
  methods proposed by any company  for  electric  lighting  or  electrical
  communication by the use of conductors along or across any street in the
  boroughs  of  Manhattan and the Bronx, and, before approving of any such
  method, such commissioner of transportation shall require that,  so  far
  as   practicable,   all   such  conductors  when  constructed  shall  be
  underground.  The  commissioner  of  transportation  shall   have   full
  authority  to  compel  all companies operating electric wires to use the
  subway prepared in accordance with the  provisions  of  sections  24-407
  through 24-409 of the code.
    b.  Wherever,  along  the streets, in sparsely inhabited or unoccupied
  portions of such boroughs, the  public  interests  do  not  require  the
  electrical  conductors  to  be  placed underground, and wherever, in any
  other locality in such boroughs, it is deemed by  such  commissioner  to
  be,  for  any cause, impracticable to construct and successfully operate
  underground the electrical conductors  required  by  any  such  company,
  then, it shall be the duty of such commissioner to examine and grant the
  application  of  any  such  company  for permission to deviate from such
  underground  system.  The  commissioner  of  transportation  shall  not,
  however,  grant any such permission unless he or she shall be satisfied,
  upon investigation, that such a permit should be granted for one of  the
  reasons stated above, and that it will not interfere with the successful
  working  of  underground conductors elsewhere in such boroughs. Any such
  permit shall be held and construed to  authorize  the  construction  and
  maintenance  of  the  lines  of  conductors therein provided for, as and
  where prescribed by the commissioner of transportation.
    c. It is hereby made the duty of such commissioner of  transportation,
  in  granting  any  such  permit  for  other  than underground electrical
  connections, to bear in mind the policy and purpose of  sections  24-407
  through  24-409 of the code, which is to convert the overhead systems of
  electrical wires and cables now in use in such boroughs  to  underground
  systems,  as soon as possible, without impairing the efficiency of their
  service, and to require that, as  far  as  practicable,  all  electrical
  conductors  in  any  street  in  such boroughs shall be removed from the
  surface  and  placed  and  operated  underground,  as  soon  as  may  be
  consistent with the convenient use thereof by the public. It is intended
  to authorize other than underground electrical conductors, to be used in
  the streets, only when and where the public interests do not require the
  electrical  conductors  to  be  placed underground, or when and where it
  shall be deemed by the board of estimate to be  impracticable  to  place
  and  operate  the  conductors  advantageously  underground.  It  is also
  intended to make all  aerial  or  other  electrical  connections  merely
  incidental  to  such  underground  methods,  and to require that they be
  authorized only when and where needed for  the  convenient  use  of  the
  public  or  where  the  underground  conductors  can be made more useful
  thereby.
    d. The work of constructing every line of conductors authorized by any
  such permit, so granted, shall be subject to the rules  and  regulations
  prescribed  by  the  commissioner  of  transportation. Every such permit
  shall specify the location of the structures to be  erected  and  to  be
  used  for  sustaining  the  electrical  conductors,  and  shall give the
  general dimensions thereof.
    e. It shall be the duty  of  the  commissioner  of  transportation  to
  require  that  the subway may be used by the city for the electric wires
  or conductors operated by its police, fire  or  other  agencies  without
  expense,  except  that  of  the wires or conductors. The city shall not,

  however, be compelled to place any such wires or conductors  underground
  until  the  money  has been specifically raised therefor, and until that
  time the city may continue to use and extend such wires.
 
  * NB Amended L.L. 69/85 § 10, language juxtaposed per Ch. 907/85 § 14