THe Players and Their Roles
The streetlights in question are connected to two different Albuquerque city projects: the Albuquerque Rapid Transit (ART) project, and the Albuquerque Streetlight LED Upgrade project, which goes under the name EnvisionABQ. To understand the role of each of the defendants in the Albuquerque lawsuit it is necessary to look at how each project affected the lights and the role the different defendants played in the two different projects.
The ART project is a bus rapid transit service running almost exclusively along a stretch of Albuquerque’s Central Avenue. The design of the entire system – which involved bus stations in the central median, off-board fare collection, and special intersection treatments to give priority to transit vehicles, and (importantly) new streetlights along the route – was contracted to HDR Engineering. HDR Engineering is a defendant in the Albuquerque lawsuit.
HDR engaged subconsultant Dekker/Perich/Sabatini for the planning and design of station platforms, canopies, streetscapes, and pedestrian amenities for the ART project corridor along Albuquerque’s Central Avenue. Dekker/Perich/Sabatini is a defendant in the Albuquerque lawsuit.
In September 2016, local contractor Bradbury Stamm was awarded an $82.6 million contract to act as general contractor for the construction of the ART system. Under the contract, Bradbury Stamm assumed responsibility for all acts of subcontractors and suppliers associated with the ART project. Bradbury Stamm is a defendant in the Albuquerque lawsuit.
In September 2016, local contractor Bradbury Stamm was awarded an $82.6 million contract to act as general contractor for the construction of the ART system. Under the contract, Bradbury Stamm assumed responsibility for all acts of subcontractors and suppliers associated with the ART project. Bradbury Stamm is a defendant in the Albuquerque lawsuit.
Part of the ART project involved the installation of new, decorative streetlight luminaires along the ART bus route. Bradbury Stamm engaged Bixby Electric and MWI as subcontractors for this work. Bixby and MWI obtained submittals from Environmental Light for Architecture (ELA) for these decorative light fixtures. This submittal was reviewed and approved by Bradbury Stamm and HDR. Bixby, MWI, and ELA are all named as defendants in the Albuquerque lawsuit.
It is important to note that the ELA light fixtures are manufactured as metal halide – not LED – light fixtures.
As part of their electrical subcontracting work, between March and December 2017 Bixby and MWI installed the new metal halide ELA fixtures, and associated poles and infrastructure.
The EnvisonABQ project began while the ART project was already underway. The EnvisionABQ project introduced another contractor, Citelum. As part of EnvisionABQ, in 2018 Citelum converted all of the Albuquerque streetlights – including the metal halide ART project lights – to LEDs, and then assumed responsibility for the operations and maintenance of all the Albuquerque streetlights (again, including the ART project lights).
Albuquerque financed the LED conversion of its streetlights to LED by granting a lien on the streetlights, and on promised energy savings from the streetlights, to Citelum.
In August 2020, Citelum sold its lien on the Albuquerque streetlights and the promised energy savings from the LED streetlight conversion, to Dalkia Energy Solutions. At that point, Dalkia assumed all maintenance, operations, and other responsibilities from Citelum. Dalkia is the final defendant in the Albuquerque lawsuit.
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