COVINGTON, Ky. — Nearly a month after WCPO first reported on miles of highway light outages in Northern Kentucky, transportation officials said they couldn't give an update on improvements other than repair work continues across the region.
On Jan. 24, a spokesperson for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet District 6 said they were aware of the long-standing lighting issues along I-71/75 and I-275 and that a contractor was making it a priority to get them repaired as quickly as possible.
"We’re dealing with significant issues within the wiring throughout the median walls. One short in a wire can cause a whole run of lights to go dark. Lighting may go out intermittently depending on weather, and other factors," the statement read.
Since then, WCPO cameras captured noticeable improvements. Some lights that were once out in the Cut in the Hill are now on — though not all. That pattern continues down to the Florence/Union area.
While he notes the progress, driver Dave Puthoff said the inconsistencies are frustrating.
"It's a safety concern. It's my biggest concern. I'm afraid someone's going to get hurt," he said. "You get right over the bridge — I think they're out a little bit, and then they go on and then you get around the bend as you come up the hill and then right there in the bend they're off again."
Puthoff said he first noticed the faulty lights last year and started calling and messaging KYTC District 6 for answers. The only one he said he got was "they were working on it."
"I know they're working on it, but it's not very quick," he said. "To get a light working, I mean, if it's a bad cable then replace the cable. If it fuses, put the right size fuses. Go fix the maintenance issues. If the water from getting in the wires. Bad wires? Replace the wires."
KYTC said the outages are the district's biggest complaints on social media, but they currently can't keep up with the aging infrastructure.
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WCPO asked KYTC for more answers, including how old the median wiring is and when the LED bulbs were installed and how long they're supposed to last.
Inquiries were also made into the number of repairs completed since last month. WCPO is still waiting to hear back on any of those questions.
"They need to put the resources in to get it fixed. If they've got problems like that, they should drive over into Cincinnati and take a look at the lighting they've got there," said Puthoff. "Theirs is always on so maybe they need to investigate who Cincinnati uses as a lighting contractor."
