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Question: I drive from Greensboro to Winston-Salem several times a week to check on my elderly mother. During the past year, I have noticed that the lights in the concrete median along Interstate 40 between Gallimore Dairy Road and Sandy Ridge Road are never turned on. Why were the lights installed if they are not going to be used? Coming back from Winston-Salem one night recently, it would have been very helpful to me driving in the dark and the rain if these lights had been turned on.

Similar question: I noticed that there are no lights along Bryan Boulevard near the new airport exit. ... It’s very dark at this exit when going to the airport in early morning or late afternoon/evening hours.

— Jim Baulding, Greensboro

Answer: Blame budget cuts for keeping you in the dark along the straightaways of I-40.

The N.C. Department of Transportation cut the switch on the lights in the concrete median along I-40 last December to save money, according to Mike Mills , the division engineer for Guilford, Alamance, Rockingham, Caswell and Orange counties .

“After we turned them off, we went out there and did a night-time inspection, just to make sure it was not a safety hazard,” Mills explained. “We’ve spoken with the city of Greensboro and to the Highway Patrol, and to my knowledge it is not a safety issue.”

In the state’s view, these lights fall into the category of convenience, not necessity. But DOT did decide to keep the lights burning at interchanges where exit and entrance ramps make driving inherently more dangerous.

The penny-pinching measure came at about the same time DOT laid off all of its temporary employees.

“We are just now starting to hire some of those back,” Mills said. “We were forced last December to really look at stopping everything. We quit putting down asphalt unless it was a safety issue. ... We cut all material costs out and did a lot of manual labor.”

Mills won’t make any promises, but he did say that DOT is re-evaluating such cost-cutting measures as it prepares a budget plan for the coming fiscal year.

“I don’t know at this point. We’ll have to wait and see how our revenue funds come in,” he said.

Regarding your second concern, Mills said his division will investigate the lack of lighting at that particular airport exit. Apparently he’s heard similar complaints about how dark it gets on that new stretch of roadway.

“We are already investigating the Bryan Boulevard and western loop interchange,” he said. “Our issue is, if lighting is warranted, we’ll have to find the funding for it somewhere.”

— Betsi Robinson