On a wet Seattle night, a dead streetlight stands out fast. Dark stretches are showing up on arterials, freeway approaches, bridges, overpasses, exits and on-ramps, including routes into and out of West Seattle.

The bridge tied to the morning incident in the original report was singled out as especially difficult after dark. Places like bridges, ramps and overpasses already demand extra attention from drivers and people on foot, and missing lights make those corridors harder to read.

Seattle does have a way to report broken streetlights, but that only solves part of the problem when the outage is on a major road with no shoulder or sidewalk. Many of the lights people notice are visible from a moving car and not easy to report safely in the moment.

The broader issue appears to be more than a few isolated bulbs. Residents have linked the problem to a larger repair backlog, while also raising questions about staffing, contractors and how quickly the city can catch up on routine outages.

For now, the immediate concern is visibility. In drizzle, glare and winter darkness, even a short run of dead lights can change the feel of an entire corridor and make already tricky stretches of road less forgiving.