INDIANAPOLIS – Recently, Mayor Joe Hogsett joined representatives from Indianapolis Power and Light (IPL) and members of the Drexel Gardens community to celebrate the installation of more than two dozen new streetlights. The installation of these 29 lights — one of the largest Operation Night Light projects yet — is the culmination of nearly a decade of research, mapping and advocating by community organizations and volunteers within the Drexel Gardens neighborhood.
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 initiative began with the initial 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 702 new streetlights in 70 areas of Marion County since October 2018.
New lights are funded by savings realized through the conversion of more than 27,000 city-funded cobra head streetlights to more energy-efficient LED lights. The retrofit started in April 2018 and will continue throughout Indianapolis through spring 2021; as of the first week of August, IPL crews have retrofitted more than 11,000 lights to LED technology – about 42 percent of all city-paid streetlights.
In addition to community input, darkness level of the area and pedestrian and public safety also factor heavily into where the city and IPL install new streetlights.
The City of Indianapolis encourages residents to continue to request new streetlights for their neighborhoods. In order to be considered for a new streetlight, residents must submit a request, which is then evaluated and reviewed. IPL will conduct a site review, then the city reviews the feedback. If approved by the city, IPL will install the street light.
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.
