Why can't the street lights in Nanjing Gaochun, which have been "blind" for many years, light up? Staff: Building street lights is just an icing on the cake

Ms. Chen, a resident of Gaochun District, Nanjing, reported to the "Political Style Hotline" that the street lights on both sides of a township road at her doorstep have been damaged for three to four years but have not been repaired and have become decorations, causing them considerable trouble for night travel. Citizens have repeatedly reported that they have not made any changes.

Ms. Chen introduced that there is a 6.6 kilometer long township road from the Guchenghu Bridge in Gaochun District, Nanjing, along the Hubin Road to the Huanhu Line. The two rows of street lights along the road are not lit all year round.

Nearly 5 kilometers north of the Yongfeng Line are solar panel street lights, and nearly 2 kilometers south of the Yongfeng Line are powered by the power grid.

Due to the lack of other lighting at night and the pitch black road conditions, vehicles passing by will turn on their high beams, especially the dump truck with high beams on. Ms. Chen always feels scared every time she rides by.

The southern end of this road connects to the Huashan Bridge, which connects Shuiman City on the west side of Gucheng Lake and Jiangshan, Huashan, and other scenic spots on the east side, forming a complete tourism route around the lake. This has also become a transportation hub on the Hunan side of Gucheng Lake, where many people come for night runs. In addition, many citizens ride bicycles, resulting in a high flow of vehicles and people, and street lights have become decorations, posing significant safety hazards. Nearby residents said they dare not cross the road at night.

Ms. Chen said, "It's crab season now, and some people at home are coming up to sell crabs. They all leave home at one or two in the morning, and tricycles don't have very bright headlights. If you wear headlights, the lights will also be very stimulating for oncoming traffic, so it's very dangerous. I hope to quickly solve the street light problem and not always drag like this."

The reporter learned from the local transportation department that solar panel street lights were built by them in September 2016, with over 200 units. They had undergone maintenance due to damage in the early stage, but by 2021, these street lights had been completely damaged. Due to the high maintenance cost of these street lights, they plan to transform them into grid powered street lights.

A staff member from the Comprehensive Planning Department of Gaochun District Transportation Bureau stated that there is a battery under the solar panel. At that time, this new technology was just emerging, and the technology was not as complete as it is now, so a street light renovation plan was made. At present, there are four roads in the entire region with blind street lights, which require unified maintenance. They started promoting this urban construction project in 2021 and will have to wait for financial funding to complete the street light renovation. According to the process specifications of urban construction projects, the transportation department needs to list project plans every year, submit them to the urban construction department for summary, and after discussion and approval by the district government, the project can be initiated for bidding and investment can be made to promote implementation.

Another staff member said, "If the four roads are repaired together, the volume is still quite large because it does not comply with the bidding process if done in batches. The plan was already submitted and approved in 2021, but it was put on hold due to funding reasons. We have also provided feedback to the government, including communication with the finance department. The finance department is now trying to find ways to raise funds to implement this matter."

The Urban and Rural Development Bureau of Gaochun District stated that due to insufficient financial funds, the street light maintenance plan declared by the transportation department was cancelled in 2023, and the plan for 2024 is still being prepared and promoted.

It is understandable that there was no funding to replace solar panel street lights in the short term, but what puzzled Ms. Chen was that the nearly 2 kilometers of street lights powered by the grid between the Yongfeng Line and the Huanhu Line were only installed last year. Why can't they light up normally at night? Ms. Chen's confusion lies in the fact that it can be used for normal lighting to light up half of the way or every few lights.

A staff member from the Comprehensive Planning Department of the Gaochun District Transportation Bureau in Nanjing stated that 👇

If all these street lights are turned on, the overall electricity bill would be very scary, costing eight or nine thousand yuan per day. There are two situations when the lights are on or off. The first is automatic control based on the light, and the second is based on holidays, which is equivalent to setting up a scene. Because only municipal roads have lighting standards, street lights on highways are an added bonus.

Hu Meng, Director of the Highway Development Center of Jiangsu Provincial Department of Transportation:

The issue of whether lighting should be installed on highways is clearly stipulated in relevant national technical standards and specifications. For points such as tunnels, toll plazas, and service area plazas on highways, lighting should be installed according to the specifications. There are no mandatory requirements for other situations in the specifications.

The Gaochun County Road mentioned in the film was initially equipped with street lights, which provided great convenience for people's travel. However, in terms of maintenance and management in the later stage, it was not done very well. Damaged street lights were not repaired in a timely manner, and undamaged street lights were not provided with power and lighting. Therefore, the people had a relatively large response to this. Safety is of paramount importance, and the issue with streetlights must be resolved as soon as possible. Next, we will urge local governments to quickly implement project funding, repair and replace damaged street lights as soon as possible, and power on undamaged street lights as soon as possible, so that the people can quickly embark on the path of lighting and peace of mind.

Kong Youzhi, Director of the Transportation Bureau of Gaochun District, Nanjing City:

Yongcheng Road is divided into two sections. One section is the solar powered street lights implemented since the construction of the road in 2009, and the other section on the Huanhu Line is the street lights constructed in September 2022. Since 2016, the entire district has gradually requested that over 200 kilometers of county road projects be illuminated in three to five years, which is not only a requirement for promoting urban-rural integration but also convenient for people's travel.

Solar street lights have reached their loss time, specifically starting from 2021, and some solar street lights have been damaged. In 2021, we had already discussed with the urban construction department to renovate solar street lights and include them in the 2022 urban and rural construction plan. This is expected to be completed within the year, as the preliminary design work has already been completed. We are already working on a half width open plan for the lighting of the Huanhu Line, and it will be implemented soon. We will discuss it with the traffic police department in the early stage. At present, the number of people passing through this road is very rare. Considering the demands of the people, we are already making a semi transparent arrangement.