WASHINGTON – As thousands of people plan Washington visits for the Nationals playoffs, District officials are keeping their fingers crossed the lights don’t go off.

D.C. has more than 70,000 street lights throughout the city, but an ongoing contract dispute could leave residents and visitors in the dark.

A $100 million contract is tied up in court and that means there is no one maintaining the street light system, the Washington Business Journal reports.

District workers are able to replace some bulbs on an emergency basis, but city officials have acknowledged they can’t maintain the system without an outside contractor, according to the Washington Business Journal.

The city hopes to have an emergency contract in place later this week.

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