State transportation officials remain vexed by thieves whose brazen heists of copper electrical wire have darkened freeway lights, including two stretches in Central O'ahu that have been out for nearly a year.

It's a frustration also felt at O'ahu's public schools, where copper thieves have ransacked buildings 38 times this year, taking downspouts, pipes and roof fixtures.

With a value of between $1 to $2 a pound at scrap yards, the profit appears to outweigh the obvious risks of falling off roofs or electrocution. The soaring resale value of the metal — the price of copper has risen 200 percent in the past year — has spurred the crime wave.

The cost to taxpayers, who foot the bill for replacement copper and repairs tied to damage associated with the theft, runs into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Total freeway damage has been estimated at nearly $300,000.

Damage last month at the Sand Island State Recreation Area, where thieves wrecked an electrical transformer when they grabbed copper wires, will easily exceed $100,000, according to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.

"It's a shame that one person or a group is making life miserable for everyone else," said Scott Ishikawa, spokesman for the state Department of Transportation.

The freeway lighting won't be fixed and turned on until transportation officials find a way to secure the wires, Ishikawa said. Department officials do not know when that will happen.

"We're still trying to figure out a design that would prevent the thefts of copper wires," Ishikawa said. "The Catch-22 we have is that you cannot padlock every light fixture because if there is an emergency, we have to make sure it is accessible for repairs right away. You can't create a Fort Knox situation."

Freeway lights have been out since the end of last year from the H-1/H-2 interchange through the Ka Uka Boulevard and Pineapple Road overpasses. The state had replaced the copper wires a few weeks prior to that, but decided not to do it again until it could prevent another theft.

The H-1 Freeway also was hit in fall 2005 in the townbound lanes between Makakilo and Kunia. The state repaired that damage.

H-1 HIT AGAIN

But in August, thieves stole more than $8,000 worth of copper wire from a box under the Makakilo overpass, again plunging the H-1 into darkness from Makakilo to Kunia. A month later, thieves found more copper along lights in 'ewa-bound direction on the same stretch of freeway.

The cost to schools isn't quite as high as on the freeways, but is no less irksome, said Francis Cheung, engineering program manager for facilities maintenance at the state Department of Education. Damage has ranged from $500 to $2,000, he said.

Schools have struggled to keep pace with thieves who take copper on one weekend and then come back for more the next weekend, he said.

"The schools are very frustrated, just like us," Cheung said. "Our guys hate to see this kind of thing happen."

SCHOOLS 'WIDE OPEN'

A solution to the schools problem seems just as elusive as the one being sought by highway officials.

"We don't have an answer yet," Cheung said. "The way that our schools are built, they are wide open. Anybody can walk into any school."

The Honolulu Police Department has at least five felony investigations open in connection with copper thefts. They have made several arrests this year, including the arrest last month of a man who chopped down a utility pole in Hawai'i Kai.

Police could not comment yesterday on their investigation into the freeway thefts, but said that copper thefts from buildings and construction sites are far more common.

"It is just a matter of opportunity," said Officer Glen Lueke. "If they think yanking gutters off the side of the house is an opportunity, they will take it."

Reach Mike Gordon at mgordon@honoluluadvertiser.com.