Signals and Streetlights

Known Streetlight Issues

You can find information on streetlight outages here.

Responsibilities of the Traffic Signal and Streetlight Shop

• Relamp Signal Heads – Proactive – On a set cycle
• Relamp Streetlights – Reactive – Resident Request
• Repair Damaged Streetlights – Reactive – As needed/Resident Request
• Troubleshoot Signals – Reactive – As needed
• Overhead/Aerial Inspections – Proactive – On a set cycle
• Verify all operations of signals – Proactive – On a set cycle
• Bridge Lighting – Reactive – As needed
• Maintain Public Clocks in the Right of Way
• Install and Maintain Banners
• Locate Underground Utilities – Through Call Before you Dig One Call
• Inspection for Private Development and Capital Projects with Signals and Streetlights

Streetlight Copper Wire Theft

Streetlight copper wire thefts are a problem across Tacoma and the nation. Not only is this crime costing our community hundreds of thousands of unbudgeted dollars, but the crime itself can be dangerous to criminals and residents. With 30,000 streetlight and junction box targets throughout our community, Tacoma needs watchful residents to help.

Activities to Watch For

The first stage of this crime may occur in broad daylight.

• Criminals may use official-looking white vans and orange construction vests to avoid suspicion. Legitimate streetlight crews will generally be in bucket-trucks, marked with official City, Tacoma Public Utilities or other logos.
• To locate a covered junction box criminals may poke around in grass turf.
• The thief may drop something, such as a bicycle or construction cones, over a junction box to hide their activity.
• They may break into and then cut the streetlight or junction box wires to ensure darkness when they return to steal the wire later that night.

The criminals(s) may return after dark to finish their efforts.

• They may draw the wire out by hand or by tying it to a vehicle or bicycle to yank it out quickly.
• Often the wire is stuffed into a backpack.

Report a crime in-progress to the Tacoma Police Department by dialing 911.

Junction boxes may be embedded in concrete, soil or grass. Streetlight access panels are generally located near the base of streetlights.

When people report a streetlight outage, the top priority of Public Works Department crews is to secure the site for public safety. To report an outage that has not yet been addressed, call 311 within the City of Tacoma city limits or (253) 591-5000 or use the online reporting system.

Over the past several years our community and others have met with mixed success implementing various prevention methods. The reality is that Tacoma owns 23,000 streetlights and 9,500 junction boxes that are largely unprotected. Yet, with your help, we can make it harder for criminals to get away with stealing Tacoma’s public property in the first place.

Repair Prioritization

1. Repairs that can be quickly fixed during the initial public safety inspection
2. High pedestrian or traffic use areas
3. The order of when outages were reported

Repair Response Times
The City of Tacoma has created an interactive streetlight outage map.  This map allows you to enter your address and find out if an location has already been reported.

Adding New Streetlights

Many residential roads have no streetlights, or the lighting is sporadic, and Public Works periodically receives requests for the addition of new streetlights in the City.  But some lights are much easier to install than others.  There are three basic scenarios where the existing conditions have a huge impact on the cost of adding new lights:

• Scenario 1 – No Overhead Infrastructure:  This is a scenario where the power and other utilities are all underground (or the power poles are in the alley), and there is no existing overhead infrastructure adjacent to the roadway.  In order to install new lights, new underground conduit, junction boxes, concrete bases, and poles would also need to be installed.  In established neighborhoods, this could mean having to remove and replace sidewalks, driveways, landscaping, fencing, walls, etc.  In cases like this, the cost varies, but can be around $10,000 to $15,000 per light or more.
• Scenario 2 – Power Pole Nearby:  Sometimes there is an existing Tacoma Public Utility pole nearby, but not directly adjacent to the dark segment of street.  In order to install a new light there, a new wood pole would need to be installed and connected to the nearby utility pole.  That typically runs about $2,000 to $3,000 per light.
• Scenario 3 – Power Pole Adjacent:  In a lot of cases however, there is already an existing TPU pole next to the dark street segment.  Usually, a new streetlight and mast arm can be installed on the existing pole.  This typically ranges between $800 and $1,000 per light.

Some requests for new lighting the City receives fits the 1st or 2nd scenario.  In those cases, the only mechanism to add new lighting currently available to property owners is to form an LID (Local Improvement District).  The 3rd scenario installs the most number of lights for the least amount of cost, and is where the City is focusing their limited resources.  Even then, the overall need is significant.

Using computer mapping software, the City was able to identify 3,870 dark street segments where there is already an existing power pole adjacent to the street segment.  The City prioritized and scored each dark segment based on nighttime accident history, school safety, and areas of high crime potentially affected by streetlighting.  Finally, the City applied the Equity Index in a systematic way to normalize the scoring in an equitable way, and ranked all 3,870 dark street segments based on the final results.