PHOENIX — Drivers and residents of one central Phoenix block are finally out of the darkness.
Residents told ABC15 that they have been reporting street lights out for weeks in the area of 7th Avenue between Osborne and Indian School roads.
As of Thursday night, the lights are finally back on after ABC15 took action and started making calls.
On 7th Avenue, there is fencing up where some brick barriers are busted.
"Cars hit them," said Amanda, who thinks she knows the reason why. "It’s just pitch black down this row."
Every street lamp between Osborne and Indian School has been out for weeks, according to multiple people living in the nearby neighborhoods.
The popular Phoenix corridor of 7th Avenue is not known for safety. In a roughly two-mile stretch, there has been a deadly motorcycle accident and a deadly pedestrian accident in the past two weeks.
"With as dark as it was, I feel like it was dangerous," said Amanda, who asked that we not use her last name.
Neighbors, like Amanda, reported the problem online to the city of Phoenix. Some even filed separate reports with APS.
"So it’s been done numerous times, by numerous people, and it still hadn’t been changed until you guys showed up today," she said.
When ABC15 started calling there was some confusion.
APS, which is responsible for the electricity to the lights, said it was a city issue.
The city of Phoenix, which is responsible for replacing burned out light fixtures, said the utility company is responsible.
Both organizations stepped up though to take action.
A crew was out hours after the calls working on a fix, and was able to restore light roughly three hours after ABC15's first phone call.
"I think it is unfortunate that it took the news coming out for that to happen," Amanda said, adding that she is happy to see the lights back on though. "I think it will be safer."
The city told ABC15 they are looking into this situation to identify what went wrong.
APS also told ABC15, there was a communication and mapping breakdown and they are going to make sure it does not happen again.
Both groups said they recognize the safety concerns and how important streets lights are.
If one is burned out in your area, or an entire block is without power, you can contact the city of Phoenix here.
If you notice a major outage and believe it may be a larger issue than a single lamp, you can report an outage to APS as well.
