Guard Your Manholes

image via The Gothamist

Without notice, millions of New Yorkers walk on manhole covers every day. What if one wasn’t there? Aside from the rare exploding manhole cover, and the two or three stolen annually, that hasn’t been a problem for most pedestrians, until recently.

            Some thirty manhole covers have disappeared since March, according to an article by The New York Times. Residents of the outer boroughs have witnessed thieves, dressed as Consolidated Edison workers, stealing covers at night. When asked why theft of the covers has skyrocketed in the past months, Con Edison spokesman Chris Olert says, “It’s the price of scrap metal, it’s gone up.”

Thieves have been heaving these metal discs, which can weigh as much as 300 pounds, to be sold for scrap at metal yards. Con Edison owns 900,000 miles of underground wiring, which is accessible by the manhole gateways. “Number one, it’s a safety issue,” says Olert.

            According to Olert, Con Edison is responsible for 250,000 manholes and their covers across the city. The covers can cost as much as $200 to replace, but only yield a profit of around $30 to thieves. “Put this into your story, it’s stupid and it’s dangerous to our neighbors.”

            Some heavy lids are made of metal, others are made with composite synthetics. Only the metal covers are being pilfered. An account documented by The Times says that some thieves lay down traffic cones and a “Men at Work” sign, put on orange work vests and wheel the manhole covers into beds of pickup trucks, leaving the cones behind.

While the stolen lids present a major risk to traffic, correspondents from the Queens and Brooklyn borough commissioner offices said that the city was not responsible for missing manhole covers. The privately owned companies, such as Con Edison, are called when an access panel needs replacing.

            With such a small profit from stealing covers, the alarming rise in pilfering may not continue. In the Times article, Michael Clendenin, another spokesman for Con Edison said, “I can’t imagine people are decorating their living rooms with them.”

            Although the already alarming rise in theft seems unlikely to continue growing, Olert isn’t absolutely sure. “I’m not going to make any predictions”