HONOLULU -- Drivers heading into East Honolulu are finding themselves in the dark on Tuesday night.

The street lights are out over a long stretch of Kalanianaole Highway.

The outage affects the eastbound lanes and starts shortly after the H-1 Freeway turns into Kalanianaole.

Parts of it have broken down and the necessary parts had to be ordered from the mainland.

The bottom line there will be no lights in that area until the end March. Until then, it will be difficult to see bikers and runners on this stretch of Kalanianaole Highway.

The street lights are dead in the eastbound lanes up until Wailupe Park.

"You don't realize how dark it is until you don't have any lights," said Nancy Uramoto.

"It's dangerous without lights. It's one of the busiest highways on the island," said soccer coach Gary Murakami. Murakami is concerned for his players and their parents who must travel this way to get to and from soccer practice.

"We thought that some of the neighbors don't like the lights on because it shines into their home," Murakami said.

The State Transportation Department said the light system is broken and required an upgrade.

"The system itself is actually really, really ancient. So they don't even make parts anymore to replace the broken parts," said Tammy Mori.

The DOT had to switch to an updated system, which required ordering new parts from the mainland.

DOT crews are working weekends to replace the system.

"Then HECO will take over and transition the new system into their system," said Mori.

That should be complete by the end of March, but it has some commuters concerned.

"It's so dark. It's very difficult to see," said Uramoto. "It's very dangerous and I just hope they can get to it as soon as possible because somebody's going to get into an accident."

The transportation department is asking drivers for their patience and urging commuters to use extra caution during this time.

Street lights have also been out on both sides of the H-1 Freeway this past week from the KoKo Head off-ramp through Kalanianaole Highway, but they were back on this evening. The DOT is investigating that instance as well.