If you noticed your drive is a little darker on downtown Atlanta interstates at night, that's because nearly half of the street lights are out.

Public Works Commissioner Richard Mendoza says an audit shows 45 percent or 4,000 of the lights are not working.

"It's not a dangerous situation, (but) it's not ideal," Mendoza tells WSB's Sandra Parrish.

He says the recession resulted in a $100 million reduction in the city's tax digest causing the number of broken lights to grow.

Mendoza says while the city maintains its lights along local streets, it must contract out the work along the interstates.

He says it will take approximately $1.2 million to repair all the lights and so far the city has spent about $500,000 over the past 18 months.

"Presently we are working on the downtown connector, south on 85/75, and  extending to the domestic airport exits," says Mendoza.

He hopes to finish the rest of the repairs on I-20 and I-75 northbound by 2014 if more money becomes available.