Photo by jng03

There are over 70,000 streetlights in the District of Columbia, keeping a glow on streets, alleyways, bike paths, underpasses and highways that would otherwise be shrouded in darkness after nightfall. But right now, should any of those bulbs blow out, it’ll be a bit nightmarish to get them fixed.

Washington Business Journal reports that after a judge’s rejection of a 30-day emergency contract between the District and the electrical systems firm M.C. Dean Inc., there is no contractor tasked with the upkeep of the city’s street lights. The emergency contract was proposed as a stopgap measure amid a dispute between the city, M.C. Dean and Citelum DC LLC, another contractor whose protest of a proposed long-term arrangement between the District and M.C. Dean is the cause of this dim situation.

In the mean time, maintenance on the streetlights will fall to the District Department of Transportation, but DDOT is hardly cut out for the added burden of patching up a grid of 70,000 streetlights. As WBJ’s Michael Neibauer reports:

The District has said in previous filings with the [Contract Appeals Board] that DDOT does not “have the internal resources to adequately fulfill the contract requirements on its own.” And a failure to award the contract “places a potential imminent and deleterious effect on public safety.” Awarding M.C. Dean the work, D.C. has said, “is the only means of ensuring the District fulfills its missions of properly maintaining its lighting assets without a break in service.”

Even more worrying is that the streetlight contract involves far more than screwing in new lightbulbs. The contractor who eventually gets the work is also responsible for situations involving wires, poles and equipment failure and for operating the drawbridge on South Capitol Street.

If you’re walking around town at night these days, bring a flashlight.