SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - This time of year, the Spirit of Springfield in partnership with the Mayor of both West Springfield and Springfield, is prepping the Memorial Bridge to hang its one-of-a-kind holiday halos. For the first time in 22 years, the Memorial Bridge will be dark this holiday season. The light poles along the bridge are essential to hang the holiday halos, custom-made specifically for the Memorial Bridge. Over the last year, city and state officials realized a handful of historic light poles were removed. With Memorial Bridge being owned by the state, MassDOT is the source of the answers, but not communicating. "When our electrician communicated with them because we were going to start they said they were going to be taking some more down," shared Judy Matt, President, of Spirit of Springfield. "And we'd like to see them get replaced as soon as possible for public safety number one," shared Mayor Sarno. 22News reached out to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation twice in the last few days and they have not responded to our inquiry. There are a total of 44 light poles along the Memorial Bridge and it's unclear as to when all 44 will be reinstalled. More questions continue to arise, as an explanation is missing for why these lights were removed and why the project was not communicated to the City of Springfield and West Springfield"And the bottom line was after checking with everything we would have only been able to put lights on a total of four of them," shared Judy Matt, President, of Spirit of Springfield.The Memorial Bridge Holiday tradition will not take place this season.The City of Springfield and West Springfield hope to get more communication on this state project over the coming weeks, to bring a beloved tradition back to bay stater's in the winter of 2025.22News will continue to keep you updated on the timeline of this project, including when and if MassDOT returns our inquiries. Local News Headlines Election results may be delayed in key swing states Springfield woman selected as Veteran of the Year 35th Annual Puerto Rican Flag Raising in Springfield Know your voting rights WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on WWLP.com.