MASSACHUSETTS. ONCE YOU SEE THEM, YOU CAN’T UNSEE THEM. WE’RE TALKING ABOUT DOUBLE UTILITY POLES. THAT’S WHEN A NEW POLE IS PUT IN THE GROUND AND THE OLD ONE IS CUT OFF. AND STAPLED TO IT ...

The Riverhead Highway Department has received top honors in a statewide invention competition for a device its workers use to remove snow fence poles.

The faulty pole problem spurred the city to commission a $2.5 million audit years ago, where surveyors examined and graded every pole in Chicago – more than 300,000 of them.