Streetlight outages: Milwaukee residents concerned, repairs delayed
Streetlight outages concern Milwaukee residents, repairs delayed
Milwaukee streetlight outages are unusually abundant. A city engineer said staffing shortages are making repairs take even longer.
MILWAUKEE - Milwaukee is unusually dark.
Several streetlights are out, and the city doesn't have enough staff to fix them. Residents said it's causing more than just dangerous driving conditions.
"It gets pretty dark," said Kevin Finnegan.
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The lights are out, but people are home. It's leaving some residents feeling dim.
"Out here it seems like we kind of get forgot about," Tanya Finnegan said.
Streetlights out in Milwaukee
The Finnegans have lived at their home near 97th and Keefe for 32 years. Over the past 10, the lights have been on and off. They worry the lack of streetlights make the intersection near their home dangerous.
"You can tell when it’s noticeably dark," said Kevin. "You drive into an area, and you can look out knowing you see the whole thing being just pitch black, and you can kind of get concerned."
"If kids go in the middle of the streets and there’s no lights – and it’s a crime factor, too," said Tanya.
Milwaukee doesn't want residents to feel left in the dark. City Engineer Kevin Muhs explained February and March were unusually hard on the streetlight system.
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"When the ground freezes and then the ground thaws, it causes underground infrastructure to shift and crack and break," Muhs said.
Muhs said the city's infrastructure in some areas is about 100 years old, which includes lighting circuits. A circuit could have anywhere from 50 to 200 lights on it.
There were 75 circuits out at the same time in March, Muhs said; on average, that number is closer to 10.
"If one pole or one light goes out, just like one light on that Christmas strand, the whole circuit goes out," said Muhs.
Street lights out in Milwaukee
On top of that, Muhs said the unit that repairs circuits is dealing with 33% vacancy. With not enough electricians to go around, fixing the issue is taking longer.
"I’ve called twice I think this year already for lights out," said Kevin.
The city encourages residents to report a streetlight that's out, so crews are aware of the issue. There are three ways to do that:
- Call 414-286-2489
- Report it online
- Use the city's MKE Mobile Action app