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City of Austin making West Campus lighting upgrades for safety

The new lighting is part of a plan put in place as a result of a recent Austin City Council resolution.

AUSTIN, Texas — The City of Austin this year will be upgrading street lighting around West Campus in an effort to increase the amount and quality of light as part of a plan to improve safety for both residents and visitors.

According to City officials, more than 500 additional streetlights will be retrofitted with LED inserts by the end of the year. The process is part of a multi-year plan to increase pedestrian safety in the area as the result of a council resolution.

Officials say that the University of Texas' West Campus contains some of the densest housing concentrations in the city. Safety groups have expressed concerns about crime in the area, which has historically experienced a higher-than-average property crime rate compared to the City of Austin as a whole.

“The City listened to community concerns and is taking action to modernize the West Campus area to improve safety through a combination of better and more lighting, increased police patrols and ongoing support to help our homeless neighbors find housing,” said Stephanie Hayden-Howard, assistant city manager over health and environment.

Joell McNew the president of Safehorns, a safety group at UT, said the nonprofit has been pushing for changes since 2019.

"We were looking at lighting that's outdated. The lights that were burnt out, lights that were covered by trees," McNew said.

McNew said this is a step in the right direction, but that it's not enough. An online petition called for better lighting, emergency call boxes and camera systems. The petition has more than 5,600 signatures. 

"We're encouraged, but we'll be satisfied when we actually see some action," McNew said. 

City council member Kathie Tovo co-sponsored a study to look at lighting in the area in 2017 and she said there has been some progress over the years. 

"I had hoped we would see that lighting in place by now. I understand there are a lot of frustrations about how long this project has taken," Tovo said.

If the process takes much longer, Tovo said the city will consider temporary lighting.

Students who live in West Campus, like Angela Silva, Camryn Carreon and Julia West, said they have to stick together to feel safe.

"The farther out you get, there's less lights," West said. 

"It's really dark around West Campus and it gets really scary," Carreon added.

"Our friend group is all girls, so it does get pretty scary walking with just us," Silva said.

Now that they know more lights will be added, these students said they feel relieved. 

"I think they should have done more sooner for our safety, especially with how high the crime is," Silva said. 

"That makes me feel a lot better," West said. 

"That's what we need: light. So I feel safer," Carreon said. 

Other actions to bolster safety have already been taken by a number of city departments, including:

  • Repair of non-functioning lighting fixtures and trimming of vegetation obstructing existing lighting. This is now an ongoing and year-round recurring activity.
  • Upgraded a total of 439 streetlights to LED lighting, providing enhanced illumination as compared to the previous non-LED lighting technology.
  • Increased APD directive patrols utilizing patrol units, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) and foot patrols – these are done randomly throughout different times of the day.
  • Regular visits in the West Campus area by the City’s Homeless Outreach Street Team (HOST) to connect individuals experiencing homelessness with the services they need.

“Austin Energy and other City of Austin departments worked closely together to get a lot of the recommended actions completed,” said Elton Richards, Austin Energy vice president of electric system field operations. “We continue to work collaboratively to ensure that all West Campus concerns are identified, addressed and corrected.”

City leaders said the lighting improvement schedule for West Campus has prioritized locations based on the degree of lighting deficiencies identified in a lighting study, followed by locations with crime and crash history.

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