Commuting in the Bay Area has turned nasty -- and it can't all be blamed on too many solo drivers, out-of-sync traffic lights or an improving economy.
Thieves are increasingly at fault, tearing out valuable copper wiring that powers metering lights, traffic signals, lights on freeway signs and city streetlights.
Farmers have also been hit hard, as well as construction sites and even Little League fields. But it's drivers who are among the first to notice.
Ramp meters have been dark at Isabel Avenue to Interstate 580 since October, on I-280 at Avalon Drive on the Peninsula for a couple of months and at Almaden Expressway onto Highway 85 for two weeks.
A total of 59 meters have been vandalized in the Bay Area over the past year, and Caltrans has replaced the wiring at just 18. It can take three to four months to make repairs, which will likely be the case at Almaden. And it typically costs $35,000 to fix one meter.
"I cannot catch up with them," said Alan Chow, who oversees Caltrans' metering light system in the Bay Area. "They even stole the wire at a weight station in front of the CHP."