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MISSOULA- Dark streets and recent crashes have spurred some Missoulians to wonder why the city doesn't add more lights, so reporter Irina Cates went on a special assignment to take a look at what it will take to light up the night.

Once the sun sets on the Garden City some streets look like a cave, making it hard to see the road as well as pedestrians.

"The corridors are one of the biggest concerns [including] Broadway, Reserve Street. There's [also] portions of Brooks without adequate lighting now,"Missoula City Public Works Director Steve King pointed.

It's an uneasy feeling walking or even driving down Reserve Street at night, but to turn on the lights here and elsewhere in Missoula it's going to take team work and money.

"It really takes quite a bit of money to be able to put in those new lighting systems and it needs to be the priority of the community to work with the state on getting those financed and installed," King explained.

Montana Department of Transportation Missoula District Administrator says they're concerned about safety, but it will take more than just an isolated incident, like a crash, to make state officials consider lighting an area better.

"We'll look at if there are accidents. Our traffic section will track that and then if that becomes a cluster, in other words, multiple accidents. Then they'll take a look at what were the accidents, both vehicular and pedestrian accidents. What were the accidents? What were the factors involved?," Tovas said.

Even though the darkest parts of town might not see any immediate changes, city officials are planning on taking the Higgins Street Scape project, which improved lighting there, and expand it to other parts of town.

"We're really are just in the concept phases, looking at downtown as maybe a sample of what could be, and provide an example for the community of maybe how lighting could be improved in the downtown and how that might go to other parts of the community as well," King said.

Tovas told us that MDT officials also want to try a new method on Reserve Street called contrast stripping.

"What that means is we'll go through with a stripping truck and we'll spray some black paint down and then we'll put the white or the yellow over it. And so what that'll do is hopefully that'll get the drivers attention even better," Tovas commented.

He added that Reserve Street will mark the first time MDT will try contrast stripping in Missoula and they're hoping to do the work this summer.

Residents who have worries about the lighting of Missoula's roads are invited to contact city officials and the MDT and city leaders and voice their concerns.