Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Springfield residents press Eversource for faster streetlight repairs after fatal crashes; company points to online reporting and LED conversion
Summary
At a Dec. 18 Springfield Maintenance & Development meeting, residents and city councilors pressed Eversource on longstanding streetlight outages after pedestrian deaths on State Street and Boston Road. Eversource said a recent LED conversion covered over 12,000 of ~14,000 lights and urged residents to use its online outage form; councilors asked for proactive monitoring and cost estimates to replace decorative fixtures.
Springfield city leaders, grieving family members and Eversource officials met Dec. 18 to confront continuing streetlight outages that residents say contribute to pedestrian deaths on major corridors.
The meeting’s public-comment period centered on State Street and Boston Road, where residents and councilors recounted fatal crashes and persistent darkness. "Springfield continues to rank among the most dangerous municipalities of Massachusetts for pedestrians," said one resident, citing prior crash investigations and poor nighttime visibility. Family members described recent losses and demanded immediate, reliable fixes.
Eversource managers acknowledged the tragedies and outlined both short- and long-term steps the utility is pursuing. John Caldwell, manager of community relations, urged residents to report outages through the company website and said the online form creates a single timestamped corrective‑maintenance…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
