City technicians restore traffic cameras after second act of vandalism

News Release from City of Honolulu

Honolulu – On Jan. 9, technicians from the Department of Transportation Services finished repairs to fiber optic cables that connect 62 of the city’s traffic cameras to the Joint Traffic Management Center.  These traffic cameras are now operational again, more than a week ahead of schedule.

The cables were severed on December 26 in an apparent attempted theft of copper wiring.  However, copper was not present in the cables that were damaged.  This came on the heels of a similar act of vandalism in the same area this past November that took 46 traffic cameras out of service.  Each incident cost the city approximately $10,000 to repair.

“This must stop,” said Mayor Caldwell.  “Thieves are trying to steal copper wiring but end up with nothing.  They’ve cost taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars, made rush hour traffic worse by cutting the visual feeds traffic engineers need, and blocked the public and first responders’ access to real time traffic information.  If you have any information about these vandals, please call police or CrimeStoppers.  Great job by the technicians at the Department of Transportation Services to make these critically important repairs so quickly.”

In addition to repairing the cables, “no copper” and “fiber-optic cable” signs are being put in place to make it as clear as possible to potential thieves that there is nothing of value for them to steal.

The city’s traffic cameras can be viewed by the public at http://www1.honolulu.gov/cameras/traffic.htm, on ‘Olelo Traffic, and on local broadcast news programs.

The cameras are used by operators in the city’s traffic management center to alter traffic signals to improve the flow of traffic during rush hour periods, and are available to police.

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