Recently, there has been a trend of wiring problems relating to street lighting in my area. Freeway overpasses seem to be a prime target, along with city and utility owned light poles. If you drive down a select group of arterial streets around Santa Fe Springs, CA you’ll find whole circuits, sometimes spanning multiple city blocks that don’t work, I suspect a lack of upkeep and potential copper theft are to blame. Do keep in mind there is probably staffing shortages due to the pandemic which could cause repairs to be deferred.

Here’s the areas that have a lot of wiring problems:
- Carmenita Rd (Overpass) potential copper theft.
- Carmelita Rd (Off-Ramp) low line voltage problem.
- Alondra Blvd (West), circuit doesn’t work for one block.
- Alondra Blvd (East), low line voltage problem.
- Firestone Blvd, circuit doesn’t work near freeway overpass.

This is just Santa Fe Springs, keep in mind all the light poles on the Carmenita Rd (See Here) overpass are brand new (2016) with all new wiring, but when I drove by a few days ago I saw the wire access covers had been ripped off with the wiring appearing to be tampered with. Despite Caltrans still working on the 5 Freeway along with surrounding cites, with the Carmenita Rd overpass being the grand jewel of the project, they are unfortunately taking poor care of it.

Ouch,   Suspected with copper theft but I know Caltran been replacing them with cheaper Aluminum wiring to help deter Theft issues.   Now if they just day burn there lights during high metal
 Prices,  it would be far cheaper than spending hundred of Gs trying to replace stolen  cables.   480 V is no joke cutting into
Even more so if series circuit as arc flash so great that it can cook the theives.   In SA Tx dot have Transguide traffic monitor in theft hot Spot on loop 410 just monitoring it own trandguide Equipment and lighting group relay boxes.

Yeah, I noticed a lot of copper theft near those parts.

@funkybulb: I'm sure you know, but CalTrans uses 120v and 240v. Nothing higher as far as I know. And also they've been phasing out the series circuits. They could all be gone by now.

What upsets me is that these lights were just put up and the whole 5 Freeway project isn’t even done yet. All that years of hard work being damaged by people who have nothing else better to do in life.

The overpass lights are technically the city’s responsibility, and the city does a not-so-great job at taking care of the overpass lights on all the brand new overpasses within city limits along the 5 Freeway. I believe they are 240V M-400As. At night the Carmenita Rd overpass is poorly lit and is a embarrassment to the My5LA campaign Caltrans has going.

 Wow 120/240 V that sounds rather lossy for Freeway lighting
   
   Here Tx Dot  those single phase 480 volt system a about every 2 miles feeding lights on I35 feeding 1 mile string of lights 1 mile in each direction Texas almost have  non stop run of lighting from San Antonio to Austin Tx

Yeah I'm a bit surprised that CalTrans only uses 120/240v for freeway lighting. Over here MTO has the freeway lighting usually on a 347/600v three phase system. Cobraheads are usually 347v, I'm not sure if the highmast luminaires are 347v or equipped with 600v ballasts.

You do have to remember that CalTrans puts lights on the exits and merges only. Though in recent years there have been some new continuous stretches of lights, with some being HPS, but most are LED. I suppose it's better now that they use mostly LED lights.

Ahh yeah, it was a practice that I found odd, especially in urban areas. Over here the MTO was fairly early in adopting continuous freeway lighting. The first installation was back in the incandescent gumball era.

Some suburban and most rural freeways only have the exits and merges illuminated though.

Even though it is a code violation, Japanese specification 100v street lanterns are perfect for streets with low mains voltage issues. !!!!!

Hey, I guess that could work.
 

Here in Seattle we have begun to weld our enclosures shut to slow down the copper theft.

They've also passed a new law to address the ease at which thieves have when "recycling" these stolen materials. The new law also addresses catalytic converter theft.

What really needs to happen is people need to stop tolerating bums and move them along.
The vast majority of the bums here aren't people who are victims, they have chosen to be bums because it's an easy life. No taxes. No child support. No bills. Carefree drug consumption.
In USA there are so many ways to get help and prevent yourself from being a bum. I know other countries have very little opportunity, but people in USA just take advantage of the situation so they can be lawless.

They’re probably going to have to weld the enclosures shut on our overpasses. Anything Caltrans spec seems easy to get into. I heard of some guy who invented a vandal-proof pullbox lid which I think the state should look into since these bums keep ripping out all the new wiring. Coincidentally, there’s a recycling place in Santa Fe Springs not too far from where most of the damage has occurred, but that center seems too organized to accept stolen copper. But yeah, California is a complete mess.