re: Why are there so many inoperable street lights along Louisiana's highways?

An insurance adjustor mentioned to me that La DOTD spends over $1 million a year just repairing the torn up guardrails in the 5 parish area of Baton Rouge. Sometimes a guardrail is repaired and the next weekend a drunk driver will take out the just repaired guardrail.

Same with the light poles. A drunk will take out a pole on a Friday night and it knocks out several lights around it. Supply chain issues make it hard to replace the light fixtures.
And the crack heads steal the wiring. Downtown next to the Federal Court house homeless folks had pulled the wiring out of a traffic light box so the could charge up their phones.