‘A well-oiled machine’: Wire theft rings are outpacing WSDOT’s efforts to protect I-5 infrastructure

Wire theft continues to cost the Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT) and taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars every year while also impacting safety and traffic management.

The ramp meters from S. 320th Street to I-5 in Federal Way have been dark for several weeks. A daily commuter asked me why. My initial thought was simple: wire theft, and I was right. WSDOT confirmed. Someone cut through the fence to the junction box and ripped the wire.

No more ramp meters. The thieves also stole the wire for the new overhead lights in the area. These lights were installed for safety. Too bad.

It’s going to cost $5,000 to get the ramp meters back online. It’s going to cost more than $70,000 to fix the lights.

“It’s costing a lot of money, and we’ve reached a point, such as the high tower lights there at 320th, where it’s not within our budget to replace them,” WSDOT spokesperson James Poling said. “That’s less lighting on the road. This is a safety concern.”

Wire theft rings are organized, equipped, and harder to catch

The junction box the thieves hit had even been hardened recently. WSDOT now has to weld these boxes shut to protect the wiring, but the thieves have the tools to get in. It appears there is a well-organized theft ring working the I-5 corridor between SR 509 and Federal Way at the moment.

“Wire theft is such a system, like a well-oiled machine at this point, where even our welding is not preventing the theft of copper wiring,” Poling said.

You might remember that wire thieves hit the Montlake area previously, knocking out lights and other infrastructure, and every agency is dealing with this. Earlier this year, a person was stopped on the West Seattle Bridge with hundreds of feet of wire in his hands. More than $100,000 in damage in that case. WSDOT reported that it spent $952,000 on repairs related to wire theft between 2023 and 2025, but that doesn’t actually reflect the total damages. That’s only what WSDOT could repair.

The thieves are now dressing like legitimate workers as they commit their crimes, many wearing reflective vests and even hard hats to blend in.

WSDOT fights back, but the thieves keep adapting

So what can be done about this?

It’s not like this is something new. Washington first passed a law in 2007 to combat wire theft and other crimes like stealing raw materials at job sites. WSDOT has been hardening its junction boxes and trying to stay ahead of the thieves. I asked Poling why the agency doesn’t just bury the boxes or seal them.

“We’re doing what we can, but the same access points that the thieves are using are, in some ways, the same access points we have to have as our crews to perform regular maintenance and keep these operating,” Poling said.

WSDOT has also started using aluminum wiring instead of copper. It’s not worth as much to the thieves. Poling said the Washington State Patrol is always looking for these thieves in real time. So are workers at the traffic management centers, but it’s really hard to catch them in the act.

“We have hundreds of thousands of miles of right-of-way in our agency, and we can’t have an officer stationed round-the-clock at every intersection in our right-of-way,” Poling said.

How to spot wire theft in progress and what to do about it

You can help combat wire theft. Call 911 if you see someone out of place near junction boxes, even if they have a vest.

WSDOT workers have distinctive lettering on their vests. There will likely be several of them working. They will likely have a marked work truck nearby.

Of course, the only real way to tackle this issue is to lock the thieves up and fine the unscrupulous scrap buyers who take this stolen stuff, but that just isn’t happening enough to deter the crime.

Chris Sullivan is a traffic reporter for KIRO Newsradio. Read more of his stories here. Follow KIRO Newsradio traffic on X.

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