Burying is more expensive, but you eventually earn the money back. Density is so low in the country it could be 50+ years before you pay it off.
This is part of the trillion dollar sprawl problem we have. We have built a massive amount of infrastructure as cheap as possible, and now we cant afford to built it correctly. People would have never built houses in many places if they had to pay the actual costs.
Something I was reading recently claimed that total operational costs on underground lines also higher in the long run - dielectrics break down, faults are much more expensive etc. Found it counterintuitive, but hard to counter.
It would be interesting to see the cost comparison between an urban distribution line and one that is going through the Sierra Nevada mountains. Each has it's own challenges.
