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Slide from a Sept. 23, 2026 presentation to the Public Safety Committee showing progress of the Streetlight Gap Program (City of San Antonio)<\/p>\nSAN ANTONIO \u2013 How much of San Antonio is still in the dark?<\/p>\n
There are more than 73,000 streetlights in San Antonio\u2019s residential areas, but under a 5-year-old program, the city has been trying to close a projected 4,275-light gap to brighten up darkened neighborhoods. <\/p>\n
With the $13.9 million allocated over that time nearly exhausted, just over 1,500 streetlights have been installed \u2014about 35% of the original, projected gap \u2014and staff say they have enough money for maybe about 100 more.<\/p>\n
Slide from a Sept. 23, 2026 presentation to the Public Safety Committee showing progress of the Streetlight Gap Program (City of San Antonio)<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, at this point again we are utilizing every penny we have, and I know this budget we did not get any additional money at this point,\u201d Development Services Director Amin Tohmaz told members of the City Council\u2019s Public Safety Committee at a Wednesday briefing.<\/p>\n
Tohmaz said when the program started, the purpose was to address illumination gaps and improve traffic and pedestrian safety.<\/p>\n
Staff looked at neighborhood and residential streets built prior to current streetlight requirements or annexed into the city and then compared it to modern code requirements. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo we need additional lights to fill those gaps to make sure the illumination is appropriate, again, for pedestrians and for traffic. The focus was mainly on hotspot areas where we have more crime,\u201d Tohmaz told committee members. \u201cIf there is an area where the visibility is very low, those were areas that we put as top of the priority to make, that\u2019s the areas we need to address first for safety reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some residents, like Nora Hernandez in the Sunrise neighborhood on the Northeast Side, have been waiting a long time for the streetlights. <\/p>\n
The city promised residents they would get them when the area was annexed back in the mid-90\u2019s, she said, but that \u201cnever happened up until about the last two years.\u201d <\/p>\n
There were some lights beforehand, she said, but very few of them.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have problems with crime, people breaking into cars, not being able to see coming into the neighborhood other than the lights on your car,\u201d she told KSAT.<\/p>\n
Now, the city\u2019s dashboard shows a few dozen newly installed streetlights, and Hernandez believes crime is down and says drivers can see the road better.<\/p>\n
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A city dashboard for San Antonio’s Streetlight Gap Program (City of San Antonio)<\/p>\n