Thieves stole more than six miles of copper wire valued at $102,000 from H-1 Freeway last weekend, leaving a stretch of road from Kunia to the Makakilo overpass completely dark.

The latest theft brings estimated freeway damage along the Central and West O'ahu corridor to $422,000 since May 2006. In this case, thieves ripped out copper wiring from 30 light fixtures; they have hit a total of 225 fixtures since last year.

Taken were 24,000 feet of No. 2 gauge copper wire and 8,000 feet of No. 6 gauge copper wire that connected light poles. The heavy wire is buried underground and would require a large truck to transport and a powerful winch to pull it from the ground, police said.

The state Department of Transportation currently is examining ways to better secure copper wiring on the freeways. The state has replaced wire along roadways several times and has improvised new ways to secure the wire, but thieves have worked around the measures.

"We just have to build a better mousetrap at this point," said Scott Ishikawa, DOT spokesman. "The problem we're having is there are a lot of hiding places in the areas being hit. There are no residential areas nearby."

Honolulu police have opened a first-degree theft case in connection with the crime. Workers with the Department of Transportation filed a report yesterday morning at the Kapolei police station.

The arrest Thursday of three people found in possession of roughly of 10,000 pounds of copper wire insulation is not related to this theft, police said.

"It would entail someone with sophisticated tools and expertise to pull this off. This is not typical, and nothing like someone climbing up a pole," said police Maj. Michael Moses, head of the department's District 8, which includes the darkened stretch of roadway. "We encourage anyone who may have seen anything to please contact police."

On Thursday, three people were arrested on drug and other charges after two of them were found stripping copper wire under a bridge on Nimitz Highway.

The volume of insulation suggested that more than 10,000 pounds of copper wiring had been stripped, police said.

Police were led to the cache when they tracked down a homeless woman who was a witness to an accident Tuesday in which a suspected copper thief was killed after cutting into a transformer.

Theft charges are not likely in the case because police do not have evidence linking the suspects to the actual theft of the copper, police said yesterday.

Copper thefts have plagued Hawai'i and are becoming increasingly frequent on the Mainland. States such as Texas, California, Missouri and Tennessee have experienced thefts on roadways, construction projects and large buildings.

Copper theft problems have attracted intense attention from the community and lawmakers, and several bills aimed at combating the growing problem are before the Legislature.

Of the 16 bills — most of them aimed at adding requirements for recyclers who buy the wire — five remain alive.

Most of the bills that would require recyclers to fingerprint people trying to sell copper have died. But others remain that would, among other things, require sellers to provide a receipt or notarized document authenticating that the seller is the rightful owner of the copper or has the right to sell it. One proposal would require recyclers to photograph copper purchases and keep them on file for two years.

Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.