FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) – Some residents in Fayetteville are concerned with a lack of lighting on I-49 in Fayetteville. Rodney Hicks, a Fayetteville resident, is one of those people.

According to Hicks, he’s reported the issue a few times to the City of Fayetteville and the Arkansas Department of Transportation. He has to drive on the interstate three times a week for dialysis treatments and said visibility can be extremely low at night, especially if it’s raining.

Some of the areas he said are worrisome are around the 1-49N on and off ramp and around the Fulbright Expressway. He thinks there should be more lights at every interchange all the way to the Missouri state line.

“This is not exactly a country town anymore. It’s growing by leaps and bounds by the thousands. We need to light it up for safety’s sake,” Hicks said.

According to the City of Fayetteville, it receives calls from time to time about lighting on the interstate. The city doesn’t have any immediate plans to address the issue.

Ellen Coulter, the deputy public information officer for ARDOT, said the responsibility of lighting the interstates reside with the cities and counties they go through. They just need to reach out to ARDOT to get it permitted and move forward with installation.

“We are able to work with them on available funding and design plans and things like that in certain situations,” Coulter said.

Hicks said he’s also noticed a lack of reflective lights on interstate roads. Coulter said ARDOT goes though every other year to install those on the roads as needed. She added that it’s common during winter weather for snow plows to go through and pop them off, but they will be replaced.