Indianapolis Installing New Streetlights for the First Time in 35 Years

"Indianapolis will end a 35-year moratorium on new streetlights by installing 100 lights in areas with high accident and crime rates, and in growing neighborhoods," reports John Russell.

The new streetlights are a response to rising homicide rates in the city and calls by community leaders to make neighborhoods safer. The decision to invest in new streetlights as a public safety measure runs counter to the findings of a recent study published in the Journal of Epidimeology & Community Health, which found that streetlights do not deter crime.

Indianapolis, however, will rely on its own study, by Indianapolis Power & Light Co., to make the decisions about where to install the new traffic lights. The study will consider "crime statistics, population density and existing utility infrastructure…" The answer to the burning trivia question: the streetlight moratorium "was put in place in 1981 under former Mayor Bill Hudnut as a money-saving measure."