New Orleans finds money to fix I-10 lights

The big picture: Mayor Helena Moreno and the council on Tuesday said they plan to use the remaining 2018 fine money from Entergy New Orleans to fund the next phase of the mayor's streetlight repair efforts.

• I-10 has about 4,500 lights, with at least 10% not working, deputy chief administrative officer Steve Nelson said.
• He expects to finish with the High Rise in about a month and then move to the rest of the interstate.
• Some of the money will be used to hire in-house electricians for minor repairs in city buildings.

Zoom in: The updated streetlights will have aluminum components instead of copper, Moreno said, along with additional upgrades to deter theft — a major cause of outages.

• Moreno says she also wants to add more solar streetlights.
• There's currently a solar pilot on Moss Street in Mid-City, said Councilmember Aimee McCarron.

Zoom out: Moreno launched the "Lights On" initiative last month.

• Since then, more than 600 streetlights have been repaired in New Orleans East and Central City, Nelson says.

What's next: Call 311 to report broken streetlights.