Darkened high-mast lights along I-45 from Montgomery County to downtown Houston won't be fully restored until spring 2027, the Texas Department of Transportation said.

The timeline, first reported by KHOU 11 Investigates, means Woodlands-area drivers heading south on the North Freeway face at least six more months of poorly lit highway. The stretch is one of the most heavily traveled corridors in the region for residents commuting to jobs in central Houston.

The outage count on I-45 is growing. KHOU counted 61 high-mast lights out between Beltway 8 and the 610 North Loop before its Sept. 3 report. That was up from 50 in April.

Copper theft undoing repairs

TxDOT Houston District Engineer Glenn Allbritton told KHOU that vandalism and copper wire theft are the main reasons repairs have stalled. Thieves have stripped newly installed wiring, sometimes returning to the same location within days.

"(TxDOT crews) are trying to rewire stuff and literally the very next day the wire is stolen," Allbritton said. "And we try to go back and do it again, and then a day, few days later, the wire gets stolen again."

TxDOT said it is working with the Houston Police Department's copper wire theft task force to address the problem.

Missed targets, split responsibility

The lighting repairs are split between two agencies. TxDOT is installing new LED high-mast lights primarily north of I-10. Houston Public Works handles the work south of I-10.

In April, Houston Public Works set a goal of having about 90% of the city's high-mast lights working by mid-summer. That target was not met. Allbritton said TxDOT never committed to it. Houston Public Works Director Randy Macchi said in an email that his commitments applied only to the city's portion of the work.

TxDOT also provided timelines for two other corridors: I-10 Katy Freeway from SH-6 to I-45 by November and the 610 Loop from I-10 West to I-10 East by December. Neither date specified a year, though context points to 2026.

KHOU's full investigation, which includes a citywide count of 333 darkened lights within Houston limits, is available at the link above.