Ongoing street light outages a safety issue

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/10/2023 (895 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The sun is setting earlier this time of year, but some Winnipeg streets are even darker amid reported construction and repair issues.

One resident of Valour Road told the Free Press she has been phoning Manitoba Hydro for weeks, saying all the street lights are out on the block between Sargent and Wellington avenues.

The resident, who asked not to be named, said when she finally got hold of the Crown utility about a week ago, she was told her street was just one of many temporarily in darkness.

While other routes with lights that had been out are back on, including Ashburn and Spence streets and other blocks on Valour, as of Wednesday night her block was still in the dark.

“It’s the whole bloody block,” she said. “I don’t like going out when it is dark, so I haven’t been going out. I wonder if we should be holding a Gofundme to help Hydro?”

Manitoba Hydro spokesman Bruce Owen said the utility is repairing street lights as quickly as possible.

“We understand the customer’s frustration with how long it’s taking to repair the outage and will respond as quickly as we can,” Owen said Thursday. “We’re experiencing more single-street-light and multiple-street-light outages for this time of year than we normally do.”

Owen said multiple street-light outages were up 26 per cent July to September, compared to the same period last year; single-light outages were up 39 per cent during the same period.

He noted summer construction season is always a busier season for street-light repairs.

“Water renewal and roadwork projects and an overall increase in construction projects during the summer, impacts our street-light infrastructure. We are also responding to defective LED luminaires (including) lights shutting off, strobing lights, purple lights.”

Owen said the Crown utility has responded by redirecting additional staff to help reduce repair wait times.

Coun. Cindy Gilroy (Daniel McIntyre) said area residents have spoken to her about the issue.

“But this is the first I’ve heard about this happening because of the city’s roadwork,” Gilroy said.

“I do think street lighting is critical. I hear from residents already that there is not enough lighting. We don’t light for pedestrians, we light for car traffic and I think that’s crazy… People really feel lights are a safety issue.” kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca