Alliant Energy news release

Streetlight repairs continue to light up more Cedar Rapids neighborhoods

Repair work on city’s streetlight system to wrap up in early January

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – November 17, 2020 – Alliant Energy has more than a dozen crews repairing or replacing the thousands of streetlights damaged during the August derecho. Barring any weather-related delays, Alliant Energy expects to finish streetlight repair work in its Cedar Rapids zone in early January.

“More and more neighborhoods are seeing our progress every night as the sun sets and the streetlights come back on,” said Mayuri Farlinger, Alliant Energy Director of Operations. “Safety is our number one priority, and we understand that our customers associate streetlights with safety. This is why we dedicated a group of contractors to focus just on this task.”

Immediately after the derecho, Alliant Energy crews and mutual aid workers from across the country and Canada worked tirelessly to restore electricity. Once power was restored, workers inspected all 200 circuits in Cedar Rapids and mapped areas where streetlights were damaged or destroyed. Streetlight restoration work began as the stockpile of new poles, lights and line arrived.

“Many of the streetlights were buried under piles of tree debris that that needed to be hauled away. Our path to repair the lights has followed each city’s path to load up the debris and take it away,” Farlinger said.

Once workers finish fixing the lights identified in their post-derecho assessment, Cedar Rapids residents will be once again directed to Alliant Energy’s streetlight repair request form to report any streetlight issues in their neighborhood.