Copper thieves unplug 6th Street Bridge lights

A large swath of the 6th Street Bridge, known as the “Ribbon of Light” because of its illuminated arches of color across the Los Angeles River, has gone dark.

Copper wire thieves are to blame, city officials said, and it’s unclear when the lights for the Instagram-popular bridge will be fixed.

It is a problem that has beset the region for years, with wire thieves disabling streetlights and rail lines to pilfer the valuable copper lines.

The picturesque bridge quickly turned into a destination as much as a connection between L.A.’s Arts District and the Eastside. By night, a menu of colored lights transforms the bridge’s 10 arches into a visual celebration, with the city able to change the lights’ color depending on the occasion.

With its arches and view of the downtown skyline in the background, the bridge has drawn families out on evening walks, as well as street takeovers, social media infuencers, and people climbing the arches, including one who fell to his death.

California

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A surge of thefts of valuable copper wiring has caused disruptions for the Metro rail system, which serves more than 5 million riders a month.

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Now the bridge has also attracted copper thieves, and about a third of the bridge’s lights are inoperable as a result, said Tonya Shelton, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Department of Public Works.

Utility boxes have been forced opened, and video and pictures posted on social media show wires poking out of the ground in several areas.

“The damage is to about a third of the bridge, so it is extensive,” Shelton said.

It’s unclear when the copper wires were stolen, but City Councilman Kevin de León, whose 14th District includes the bridge, first noticed the wire thefts about two weeks ago while walking over the bridge, spokesperson Pete Brown said.

De León asked staff to report the thefts to the Bureau of Street Lighting and, on Monday, conducted an inspection of the bridge with the department, Brown said.

“We’re pursuing this aggressively,” he said. “We think it’s a ring, or network, of people going around doing this.”

De León’s office is also working with the Los Angeles Police Department, he said.

Copper thefts have been a problem for years across the country. Thieves, acting alone or in organized groups, target public and private areas for the material, which they sell, usually at recycling centers. In 2008, the FBI released an intelligence assessment stating the level of theft was affecting critical U.S. infrastructure.

In L.A., copper thefts have damaged the Metro rail system, delaying rail cars because thieves targeted copper wires used to power the system.

In De León’s District 14, Brown said, about $500,000 of discretionary funds have been used to fix lighting that have been hit by copper thefts.

“There are parts of our district, like in Boyle Heights, that are being blacked out because of this,” Brown said. “It’s really a problem.”

Copper wire thefts have had a significant impact on the city this year, Shelton said. There are nearly 1,200 open cases of suspected wire thefts, she said, meaning the damaged infrastructure has not yet been repaired.

A spokesperson for the Police Department said it has not received any wire theft reports regarding the 6th Street Bridge.

Shelton said in many cases, unless a theft is witnessed, a report of the theft may take some time to be made to police. The Department of Public Works is working with police to try to streamline that process, she said.

The thefts have now also affected one of the recognizable areas of Los Angeles. The bridge, since it opened in the summer of 2022, has repeatedly been a background for Instagram and TikTok posts.

Brown said De León’s office is also working with the Bureau of Street Lighting to look at ways to prevent more thefts and increase security measures on access points to the bridge’s light wiring.

Shelton said the Bureau of Engineering and Bureau of Street Lighting are working to assess the extent of the damage caused by the wire theft, as well as come up with ideas on preventing future incidents. There is, however, no estimate on how long it will take to fix it.