There are currently 4.12 million miles of road in the US, and all those roads need to be maintained. Who keeps our roads safe? ,The Man on the Street,There are currently 4.12 million miles of road in the US, and all those roads need to be maintained. Who keeps our roads safe?
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Dark nighttime streets and alleyways have been problematic since just about forever. They’re oh so scary and a great place for bad guys to hang out. History reports that the ancient Romans used oil lamps full of vegetable oil to light their homes at night. They even had slaves whose sole duty was to manage the lamps. That surely kept the robbers at bay! 1807 found the city of London installing gas street lights followed by Baltimore in 1816 and Paris in 1820. Thanks to Pavel Yablochkov and his nifty invention of the first semi-electric streetlight famously referred to as the “Yablochkov Candle ” gas lights phased out and in came these special lamps using electric currents.
Nowadays streetlights are lit with long-lasting energy-efficient lightbulbs that last for many months or even years. Yet they still need to be maintained — bulbs changed repaired when they get smashed and installed on new streets. So who should you call when you see a bulb is out? Not such a simple question because it depends on who owns or who manages the streetlight. Could be the municipality of your county or city or it could be the local electric company. Either way they’ll come with a cherry-picker and a worker will be sent up fully geared to manually change the bulb.
Did you know? There are about 26.5 million streetlights in the US.
“Stop says the red light
Go says the green;
Be careful says the yellow light
Flashing in between…”
Traffic lights are a huge part of what keeps us safe both as drivers and passengers in vehicles and as pedestrians crossing the street. Who decides when and where traffic lights are installed?
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