Queen Village residents say Peco poles have blocked sidewalks for months. They don’t know what else to do.

Seemingly forgotten wooden Peco utility poles have made Queen Village sidewalks a bit of an obstacle course for Melanie Roberts’ two daughters this summer.

The girls, 10 and 8, are at the age where they’re seeking a bit more independence, such as letting go of her hand and walking ahead during neighborhood strolls or trips back from music class. But both girls have a degenerative retinal disease — they use canes to get around — and the large Peco poles are laid flat on sidewalks around multiple corners of the neighborhood.

“They’re literally the bane of my existence,” said Roberts. One of her daughters first bumped into a pole lying on the ground before the summer started.

With some protruding into the middle of sidewalks, and others moved to the side, the downed poles — awaiting installation to replace their upright counterparts — are an added obstacle in a city that residents with disabilities have historically struggled to navigate.

At Third and Fitzwater Streets, a pole with a Peco tag practically juts out in the middle of the street, steps away from truncated domes — those bumpy pads that warn people who have low vision or are blind that they’re about to cross the street or that they’ve finished doing so. At Fourth and Fitzwater Streets, the pole is a bit slanted, almost as if someone moved the hunk of wood to make room for the mailbox it’s blocking.

The Inquirer confirmed at least eight of the downed poles residents said have been in their way for months belonged to Peco, all marked with Peco tags.

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The poles carry electrical equipment, and their inspection and replacement are as much about ensuring reliable service as safety, according to the Utility Partners of America, which works with utilities and energy cooperatives. A Peco spokesperson said the existing utility poles on the street are being replaced “to ensure reliability for customers.”

A Connecticut Office of Consumer Counsel estimate pegs high-difficulty pole replacements at 20 to 75 worker hours. A Peco spokesperson told The Inquirer a pole is typically replaced one to three weeks from delivery. In that time, workers prepare the site and materials.

But residents said the poles have been there for much longer than three weeks. These informal sidewalk barriers have become neighborhood scuttlebutt on Facebook and in person — even catching the attention of Axios Philadelphia.

Roberts spoke to the outlet in early August and, at first, it seemed to have some effect. Peco picked up one of the poles, and Councilmember Mark Squilla’s office said the pole issue would be resolved in 10 days at most.

More than a month passed and nothing else happened, according to Roberts and another resident who wrote The Inquirer about the issue. Roberts said she was instructed to collect a list of pole locations and call Peco about them.

“I have not done that, and I’m not going to do that,” said Roberts. “I’m just a citizen paying my taxes so my kids can walk freely in the city.”

Still, she said some of her neighbors did call to complain to no avail.

When The Inquirer told Squilla’s office that the poles still laid about, it was unclear what else the office could do, and what other recourse was available to residents. The office already reached out to Peco, and the Department of Licenses and Inspection said it does not oversee the process, so it cannot issue fines. The Streets Department did not return a request for comment, though it does issue violations for right-of-way encroachments.

According to Peco, the utility has more than 100,000 (upright) poles in Southeastern Pennsylvania. Those poles, which have a service life of about 50 years, can also be replaced at a customer’s request or relocated to accommodate new construction.

By Peco’s own description, the replacement process isn’t supposed to be lengthy. In an initial email to The Inquirer, a Peco spokesperson said there had been no particular delay in pole-swapping work this year but “potential delays could include emergent work or storm work.” In another message, a spokesperson said the replacements had been delayed “due to a shift in the prioritization of work.”

“All poles that have been delivered but are part of a project that has been delayed will be picked up in the near future,” the spokesperson said.

Peco would not say how many poles are in the city at the moment waiting to be swapped. More than half a dozen obstruct Queen Village sidewalks.

“This pole is awaiting installation for an upcoming scheduled job,” read their tags, with a number to call to register comments and concerns.

But when that scheduled job is set to take place remains a mystery to residents.