Feuer Frei!
08-30-11, 07:07 AM
The next time you drive on I-95 and notice a street light is out you may have just witnessed the scene of a crime. It’s a crime that is making driving more dangerous. Thieves are breaking into the bases of light poles along I-95 in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach Counties, trying to get at the valuable copper inside.
“They’re definitely doing it to sell the wire and make a profit and it’s unfortunate because it is causing a safety issue on the highways,” said Meredith Cruz with the Florida Department of Transportation.
In the last 4 to 6 months thieves have stolen copper wire from 100 lights in Palm Beach County, leaving drivers in the dark for 33 miles.
In all they took more than 175 thousand feet of copper wiring.
Miami-Dade has also been targeted. In the last year alone, 30 lights on the stretch of I-95 between NW30th and 79th streets have been vandalized for copper. So who pays the hundreds of thousands of dollars to repair the streetlights? You, the taxpayer.
SOURCE (http://miami.cbslocal.com/2011/08/29/copper-thieves-leave-i-95-in-palm-beach-co-in-the-dark/)
“They’re definitely doing it to sell the wire and make a profit and it’s unfortunate because it is causing a safety issue on the highways,” said Meredith Cruz with the Florida Department of Transportation.
In the last 4 to 6 months thieves have stolen copper wire from 100 lights in Palm Beach County, leaving drivers in the dark for 33 miles.
In all they took more than 175 thousand feet of copper wiring.
Miami-Dade has also been targeted. In the last year alone, 30 lights on the stretch of I-95 between NW30th and 79th streets have been vandalized for copper. So who pays the hundreds of thousands of dollars to repair the streetlights? You, the taxpayer.
SOURCE (http://miami.cbslocal.com/2011/08/29/copper-thieves-leave-i-95-in-palm-beach-co-in-the-dark/)