From Mayor’s Neighborhood Advocate Kayla Wright…
INDIANAPOLIS – One year since Mayor Joe Hogsett joined Indianapolis Power and Light (IPL) and community leaders on the northeast side to launch the second phase of Operation Night, more than 1,000 new lights have been approved for installation throughout Marion County. In addition, more than 14,000 streetlights have been converted to LED technology, bringing clearer, brighter light to neighborhoods throughout Indianapolis.
“We launched Operation Night Light in 2016 with the goal of increasing public safety for residents and achieving cost and energy savings for the City of Indianapolis,” said Mayor Joe Hogsett. “Today we are proud to announce that, thanks to stakeholder collaboration and community engagement, we have brightened dozens of areas throughout our city that have been too dark for too long by installing brand new lights and bringing existing streetlights up to 21st century technology standards.”
Mayor Hogsett’s Operation Night Light ended a 35-year moratorium on new city streetlights – a moratorium that left residents in the dark in many portions of the community. The first phase of the initiative began with the installation of 100 lights in 2016 and will eventually bring up to 4,000 new streetlights to neighborhoods throughout the city by 2025.
The city has approved 912 new streetlights throughout Marion County since October 2018, in addition to the initial 100 new lights. Once approved by the city, project partner IPL installs the streetlights as materials are available, which can sometimes take several weeks. As of this week, IPL crews had also retrofitted 14,740 existing lights to more energy-efficient LED lights – more than 52% of all city-paid, traditional streetlights.
The retrofit started in April 2018 and will continue throughout Indianapolis through spring 2021 with the goal of converting more than 27,000 cobra head streetlights. As savings are realized from the conversion to the more energy-efficient lights, the city reinvests in new streetlights, taking into consideration darkness level of the area, pedestrian and public safety, and community input.
IPL crews are currently working through Wayne Township to retrofit lights there and will finish work in Center Township this winter. City leaders encourage community engagement during the process and will hold an information session for Wayne Township residents in December and one for Center Township residents early next year.
The City of Indianapolis encourages residents to continue to request new streetlights for their neighborhoods. The process for approval is as follows:
1. Resident submits request for new streetlight
2. City evaluates request
3. City reviews request for feasibility
4. IPL conducts site review
5. City reviews feedback
6. City approves request for installation
7. IPL installs new streetlight
Residents can make a request for lights by visiting Streetlights.Indy.Gov, through the RequestIndy mobile app, or by calling the Mayor’s Action Center at 317-327-4MAC (4622). Once residents receive a service request number, they can track the progress of their request through RequestIndy or by calling the Mayor’s Action Center.