I-25 lights still dark

July 12, 2011

some interstate lights we showed you nearly a week ago near the sunport that weren't on-- remain dark tonight. they're near the site of a fatal wreck police partially blamed on dark conditions. tonight we're asking why the lights still haven't been turned on. joe vigil is live at the scene with more. a couple different people at kob--including myself--have been asking questions for days about the lights at the sunport. we can say this with minute thumbnail 10:07 pm absolute certainty. the lights still aren't on, it's still dark where they're off. and we just don't know when they'll be turned on. this row of 9 lights remain dark on the sunport on-ramp to northbound i-25. we kind of expected once our story ran someone would be out to work on the lights the next day because of concerns about public safety. it didn't happen. here's what we learned today. pnm says the power company maintains these lights. however pnm officials tell us the department of transportation took control of the lights and was responsible for them after an i-25 widening projected started here. pnm says it won't maintain the lights until it regains control from the dot ...and say so far that hasn't happened. pnm also says the lights must be re-inspected--and meet code--before pnm can assume maintenance responsibilities again. dot officials told us today minute thumbnail 10:08 pm they are not taking this issue lightly. officials tell us they are still researching who is responsible for the lights and so far within dot that question hasn't been answered. so--- while the debate continues drivers will simply have to do with less light here. we also asked dot and pnm if they are talking with each other about this problem. a dot spokesman told me he thought dot tried to contact pnm but wasn't sure if contact was made. pnm was checking to see if anyone there had talked to dot. so far we don't know.