A nuisance at times for Laurie Smith, but the gardener notices a bigger issue living next to the I-515 Charleston Boulevard interchange project.

NDOT says their contractor, granite construction, deals with thieves taking copper wire and construction equipment batteries.

There's also damage sometimes to fiber communication cables in the search for copper.

A nearby neighbor did not want us to identify her, but says it's an ongoing problem.

"I've let them know whenever I've seen it. And they said, yeah, we know what's happening, but there's really not a whole lot they can do."

An NDOT spokesperson declined an interview but sent News 3 a statement.

It says in part "The project team addresses those issues in its regular weekly meetings and takes proactive measures to reduce and mitigate any theft on the project."

As for who may be behind it, NDOT says "We are not able to make assumptions about who is perpetuating the theft."

But Smith and others blame the nearby transient population.

"I already talked to one of the workers about the situation with these homeless and they said, yeah, they said, they'll just cut through the wire that they put up and just continue and there's nothing anybody can do about it," said Laurie Smith.