hotfudgedetroit.com

Andy wrote:Miles of streetlights have been out on Grand River for weeks, from downtown to around Grand Blvd.

Good luck if you get a flat tire in the middle of the night. Just leave the car and run.

The Conscience wrote:

Andy wrote:Miles of streetlights have been out on Grand River for weeks, from downtown to around Grand Blvd.

Good luck if you get a flat tire in the middle of the night. Just leave the car and run.

If you get a flat in the middle of the day on that stretch, just leave the car and run. Or have the equipment necessary to stave off an attack.

This principle applies to about 85% of the city.

The Suburban Avenger wrote:The rest of the metro area doesn't seem much better. I drove out to Canton Saturday afternoon and the lights were out on most of I-96 until I got near Livonia. I went to Taylor yesterday for a Super Bowl party and I-75 was mostly dark.

City streets, I can understand, but the blacked out freeways creep me out. People drive like shitheads already, it's even worse when you can't see them coming better.

Ansel Rakestraw wrote:Both 375 and the Lodge are state maintained roads - MDOT should be in charge of those lights. Has Snyder given up on Detroit entirely?

Ansel Rakestraw wrote:Both 375 and the Lodge are state maintained roads - MDOT should be in charge of those lights. Has Snyder given up on Detroit entirely?

middle aged female wrote:

Ansel Rakestraw wrote:Both 375 and the Lodge are state maintained roads - MDOT should be in charge of those lights. Has Snyder given up on Detroit entirely?

I was talking about the Chrysler north of 375 from Warren to Milwaukee. Is that state or city maintained?

Ansel Rakestraw wrote:

middle aged female wrote:

Ansel Rakestraw wrote:Both 375 and the Lodge are state maintained roads - MDOT should be in charge of those lights. Has Snyder given up on Detroit entirely?

I was talking about the Chrysler north of 375 from Warren to Milwaukee. Is that state or city maintained?

All freeways are state maintained. So 94, 96, 75, 375, M-10.

Many major arterials, including the shambolic Michigan Avenue & Woodward Avenue are state owned & maintained. The decorative pedestrian light on Woodward was paid for and is maintained by the City on State property. The City has to enter in to special agreements to make upgrades to Woodward and any other state owned street. The construction of Campus Martius was delayed 14 months while MDOT screwed around with hemming and hawing whether they should give up control of the stretch of Fort Street between Woodward and Griswold. All 200 feet of it.

It's not your imagination: There are quite a few lights out on Metro area freeways.

According to the Michigan Department of Transportation, about 20 percent of the approximately 5,500 lights along freeways in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb and St. Clair counties are dark.

The culprits behind the blackouts are an aging infrastructure, copper thieves and a lack of funds for replacements.

"We are responsible for about 5,500 light poles and also about 5,000 individual lights that are installed beneath overpasses," MDOT spokesman Rob Morosi said. "Right now we're estimating 1,100 outages to those poles for a number of reasons. First, we have removed at least 200 poles due to structural deficiencies that could cause safety issues."

According to Morosi, the poles were weakened by rust from decades of road salt, high winds, damaged barrier walls or crashes.

"We removed the poles to keep the driving public safe," Morosi said. "We intend to replace those poles, but there's no timetable because we just don't have the funds right now."

A major reason that so many lights are out is because of thieves.

"It's not like the copper thieves are running out onto the freeway and stealing copper from the poles to sell at scrap yards," Morosi said. "Instead they are attacking the transformer cabinets, many of which are actually located on the service drives.

"We are taking measures to try to keep the cabinets safe and secure, but for every move we make, the thieves come up with a countermove."

MDOT has even written about the problem of copper thieves on its website (michigan.gov/mdot), identifying the area around Interstate 94, east of I-75, as one of the worst hit by thieves.

"This is a crime that not only costs money, it's also costing lives," said Megan Sears, MDOT metro region communications assistant. "In October, a man was electrocuted at Putnam and Lawton streets, near I-96, while attempting to steal copper wire from a transformer. This is just one case out of many that happen every week in the city."

Morosi said MDOT electricians are working constantly on the lighting problem, trying to determine if the darkened lights are due to thefts or a worn-out infrastructure.

Morosi said the main problem with lights beneath overpasses (such as the extensive pedestrian overpasses on Interstate 696 in Oak Park) is the perception of the public.

"Some drivers question why all the lights in the underpasses are on during the daytime, but are mostly off at night," Morosi said.

"They think it should be just the opposite. But we are trying to closely match the lighting conditions outside on the freeway.

"If it's a bright sunny day, we don't want drivers to enter a long, dark underpass and then suddenly come back out into blinding sunlight."

The situation is reversed at night: Motorists driving at night will enter a somewhat darkened underpass rather than hit a long stretch of blinding lights.

"It minimizes the time drivers need to readjust their eyesight," Morosi said.



From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2013 ... z2Kxsi5VfI

Andy wrote:

It's not your imagination: There are quite a few lights out on Metro area freeways.

According to the Michigan Department of Transportation, about 20 percent of the approximately 5,500 lights along freeways in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb and St. Clair counties are dark.

The culprits behind the blackouts are an aging infrastructure, copper thieves and a lack of funds for replacements.

"We are responsible for about 5,500 light poles and also about 5,000 individual lights that are installed beneath overpasses," MDOT spokesman Rob Morosi said. "Right now we're estimating 1,100 outages to those poles for a number of reasons. First, we have removed at least 200 poles due to structural deficiencies that could cause safety issues."

According to Morosi, the poles were weakened by rust from decades of road salt, high winds, damaged barrier walls or crashes.

"We removed the poles to keep the driving public safe," Morosi said. "We intend to replace those poles, but there's no timetable because we just don't have the funds right now."

A major reason that so many lights are out is because of thieves.

"It's not like the copper thieves are running out onto the freeway and stealing copper from the poles to sell at scrap yards," Morosi said. "Instead they are attacking the transformer cabinets, many of which are actually located on the service drives.

"We are taking measures to try to keep the cabinets safe and secure, but for every move we make, the thieves come up with a countermove."

MDOT has even written about the problem of copper thieves on its website (michigan.gov/mdot), identifying the area around Interstate 94, east of I-75, as one of the worst hit by thieves.

"This is a crime that not only costs money, it's also costing lives," said Megan Sears, MDOT metro region communications assistant. "In October, a man was electrocuted at Putnam and Lawton streets, near I-96, while attempting to steal copper wire from a transformer. This is just one case out of many that happen every week in the city."

Morosi said MDOT electricians are working constantly on the lighting problem, trying to determine if the darkened lights are due to thefts or a worn-out infrastructure.

Morosi said the main problem with lights beneath overpasses (such as the extensive pedestrian overpasses on Interstate 696 in Oak Park) is the perception of the public.

"Some drivers question why all the lights in the underpasses are on during the daytime, but are mostly off at night," Morosi said.

"They think it should be just the opposite. But we are trying to closely match the lighting conditions outside on the freeway.

"If it's a bright sunny day, we don't want drivers to enter a long, dark underpass and then suddenly come back out into blinding sunlight."

The situation is reversed at night: Motorists driving at night will enter a somewhat darkened underpass rather than hit a long stretch of blinding lights.

"It minimizes the time drivers need to readjust their eyesight," Morosi said.



From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2013 ... z2Kxsi5VfI

Can anyone figure out a way to house copper in street lights (and surrounding transformer boxes) in a secure way? Or is it as difficult as splitting an atom? Fucking figure it out and quit pissing and moaning about thieves, it's not a new phenomenon.

I guess the blanket excuse is "We're broke, sorry."

Andy wrote:

It's not your imagination: There are quite a few lights out on Metro area freeways.

According to the Michigan Department of Transportation, about 20 percent of the approximately 5,500 lights along freeways in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb and St. Clair counties are dark.

The culprits behind the blackouts are an aging infrastructure, copper thieves and a lack of funds for replacements.

"We are responsible for about 5,500 light poles and also about 5,000 individual lights that are installed beneath overpasses," MDOT spokesman Rob Morosi said. "Right now we're estimating 1,100 outages to those poles for a number of reasons. First, we have removed at least 200 poles due to structural deficiencies that could cause safety issues."

According to Morosi, the poles were weakened by rust from decades of road salt, high winds, damaged barrier walls or crashes.

"We removed the poles to keep the driving public safe," Morosi said. "We intend to replace those poles, but there's no timetable because we just don't have the funds right now."

A major reason that so many lights are out is because of thieves.

"It's not like the copper thieves are running out onto the freeway and stealing copper from the poles to sell at scrap yards," Morosi said. "Instead they are attacking the transformer cabinets, many of which are actually located on the service drives.

"We are taking measures to try to keep the cabinets safe and secure, but for every move we make, the thieves come up with a countermove."

MDOT has even written about the problem of copper thieves on its website (michigan.gov/mdot), identifying the area around Interstate 94, east of I-75, as one of the worst hit by thieves.

"This is a crime that not only costs money, it's also costing lives," said Megan Sears, MDOT metro region communications assistant. "In October, a man was electrocuted at Putnam and Lawton streets, near I-96, while attempting to steal copper wire from a transformer. This is just one case out of many that happen every week in the city."

Morosi said MDOT electricians are working constantly on the lighting problem, trying to determine if the darkened lights are due to thefts or a worn-out infrastructure.

Morosi said the main problem with lights beneath overpasses (such as the extensive pedestrian overpasses on Interstate 696 in Oak Park) is the perception of the public.

"Some drivers question why all the lights in the underpasses are on during the daytime, but are mostly off at night," Morosi said.

"They think it should be just the opposite. But we are trying to closely match the lighting conditions outside on the freeway.

"If it's a bright sunny day, we don't want drivers to enter a long, dark underpass and then suddenly come back out into blinding sunlight."

The situation is reversed at night: Motorists driving at night will enter a somewhat darkened underpass rather than hit a long stretch of blinding lights.

"It minimizes the time drivers need to readjust their eyesight," Morosi said.



From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2013 ... z2Kxsi5VfI

Can anyone figure out a way to house copper in street lights (and surrounding transformer boxes) in a secure way? Or is it as difficult as splitting an atom? Fucking figure it out and quit pissing and moaning about thieves, it's not a new phenomenon.

I guess the blanket excuse is "We're broke, sorry."