Why Phoenix-area freeway lights keep going dark — and what ADOT is doing about it
Copper wire thefts are costing Arizona hundreds of thousands of dollars and leaving major Valley interchanges unlit. ADOT says new sensor technology is already helping catch thieves in the act.
PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Arizona Department of Transportation officials are installing sensors on several freeway electrical boxes around the Valley, hoping to combat copper wire thieves who have left major interchanges in the dark.
The thieves break into electrical boxes, pull out copper wires to sell, and leave behind hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage each year, according to ADOT spokesperson Doug Nintzel.
“It’s throughout the Valley that we have a problem,” Nintzel said.
The theft problem affects freeways across the Valley, including U.S. 60 in Mesa, the Loop 202 in the southeast Valley, Interstate 10 and Interstate 17, Nintzel said.
Drivers on State Route 51 near the Loop 101 interchange also may have noticed darker-than-usual conditions due to the thefts.
“On any yearly basis, we can count on really hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage being done,” Nintzel said.
The problem is growing alongside rising copper prices, according to Rita Castaneda, owner of Goddess Scrap.
“Especially right now with the price of copper being so high a lot of people are coming in looking to sell some copper,” Castaneda said.
Castaneda said her scrap yard denies suspicious-looking copper wire sales daily.
“First things first, we ask for an ID, if they don’t have an ID we immediately deny the material,” she said. “There’s quite a bit of people that we end up denying on an everyday basis because of just the way that the material looks.”
ADOT is adding sensors to electrical boxes on commonly targeted freeways, including along Interstate 17 near the Durango Curve and at Interstate 17 and Happy Valley Road in the north Valley.
“If the power goes out to a light fixture, we get an alarm that goes off and it alerts our staff,” Nintzel explained.
Once alerted, staff can use freeway cameras to catch thieves in action or alert law enforcement to respond to the area.
“We’re hoping that message gets sent where the bad guys may start to figure out, ‘hey, there’s a greater risk that I could get caught,’” Nintzel said.
ADOT officials report early success with the sensor system.
“There have been some success stories where police have been able to respond very quickly and actually catch somebody in the act,” Nintzel said.
ADOT hopes to expand use of the sensors to other Valley freeways in the future.
Officials said repairs are not made immediately after a copper wire theft due to resource constraints and concerns that thieves will simply steal the copper again. They are asking the public to report suspicious activity along the freeway immediately.
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