Spaghetti Bowl lighting mostly restored after copper wire thefts

Work to restore full overhead lighting above Interstate 15 in the Spaghetti Bowl area after a series of copper thefts in the fall is nearing completion.

Nevada Department of Transportation crews have been working for more than a month to get the busiest traffic area in the Las Vegas Valley back to full illumination after repairing the damage caused by the thefts.

“The I-15 corridor has been largely relit,” NDOT spokesman Tony Illia said Tuesday in an email. “However, there are still portions of the Neon Gateway that won’t be re-illuminated until mid-January, largely due to staff issues and integrating new theft-deterrent measures with the rewiring.”

NDOT initially projected to have repairs done by Thanksgiving before more thefts forced more repairs. But Illia said slimmer holiday work schedules and COVID-19 issues also contributed to the delay.

The repairs were estimated to cost $300,000.

Law enforcement made several arrests since thefts began in late October.

Thieves using power tools and other devices to speed their work stole enough wiring to knock out lighting, leaving about 30 percent of the freeway lights illuminated in the Spaghetti Bowl corridor and creating a significant safety hazard for motorists.

As state crews worked to restore lighting, the thieves struck again.

“Thieves are getting more sophisticated, including using grinders, other power equipment as well as reels or spools to steal the copper,” Illia previously told the Review-Journal. “In my years (six) at NDOT, I have not seen a theft this ambitious.”

The price of copper was recently $3.29 a pound, up 55 percent from $2.13 per pound five years ago. Thieves generally have to go out of state to sell stolen copper because of strict laws for people attempting to sell wire in Nevada, Illia said.

Contact Marvin Clemons at mclemons@reviewjournal.com. Follow @Marv_in_Vegas on Twitter.