Cost of wire thefts in 7-county area reaches more than $500,000

More copper wire has been stolen from the state Department of Transportation (DOT) and replacement costs for all the stolen wire has reached more than a half-million dollars this year.

According to the DOT, sometime last week thieves stole more than 6,000 feet of wire on Interstate 5 in Tacoma. The wire is used in lighting the I-5 on and off ramps at 72nd Street. Crews arrived to find open junction boxes and the wire gone.

It was the 96th wire theft in the DOT's Olympic Region, which covers Pierce, Thurston, Kitsap, Grays Harbor, Clallam, Jefferson and Mason counties. The wire stolen from the seven-county area, if laid end-to-end, would equal 315 football fields or 18 miles of wire, said the DOT.

Earlier this month, wire thieves stole copper wire from the State Patrol scale house on Highway 7 near Spanaway, Pierce County.

The theft occurred around July 1, said the DOT. Thieves pulled the wire that feeds the scale station's lighting. Although the patrol maintains the scale site, the land is owned by the DOT.

The replacement costs add to the DOT budget shortfall, already hit hard by the unusually hard winter.

Meanwhile, crews will be working along eastbound Highway 16 today to replace wire stolen earlier this year.

Susan Gilmore: 206-464-2054 or sgilmore@seattletimes.com