Scott Lewis investigates a problem that is familiar to anyone who uses the busy I-94 freeway on Detroit's east side: Why do the street lights seem to be malfunctioning, even after expensive repairs?
Lewis, the award-winning investigative reporter who now works as a private eye, writes that last summer, the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) spent $3.2 million on a project to install 330 new lights on a five-mile stretch of I-94 from Conner to Eight Mile Road.
The new lights are beautiful, sleek, energy efficient LEDs. The problem is; the damn things don’t work.
From Conner to just west of Cadieux, every single light is out at night. East of Cadieux to Eight Mile Road, the outages are sporadic.And the strangest thing of all; the lights that do work are also burning during the day. What’s up with that? And why did we pay for new lighting and get darkness?
The problem? Copper thieves. Before we could even enjoy our new lights, the crooks figured out how to steal the copper wire that feeds them electricity. And it’s not just the new lights that are going dark. When thieves steel the copper wire they’re also knocking out power to freeway cameras and message boards.
