Main Street – Lighting Upgrade
Phase two of the city’s Main Street light retro-fit project is well under way, ushering in better lights, more modern fixtures and lower energy costs.
Last week, workers from Pacific Electric of San Jose continued the project of rewiring streetlights from Beach Street to Freedom Boulevard. The project also includes the installation of some new ornamental streetlights, LED, or light-emitting diode, lights in all the Main Street lights, and the rewiring and installation of a metered service to better track costs and to avoid a flat fee from Pacific Gas & Electric. Phase one of the job, which has already been completed, ran from the Main Street Pajaro Bridge to Beach Street and included similar upgrades.
Some of the new light poles being installed will have banners attached to them, outlets for twinkle lights and flowerpot holders. Part of the project involves cutting up existing concrete to make way for larger vaults that will house larger utility boxes. Plans call for the utilization of some of the existing lights and electrical conduit as well as installation of new conduit and new lights, including ornamental lights. Some of the existing light poles will remain, while some new poles will be installed, too.
Phase two, the final phase, should wrap up in November. According to Bob Berry, Project Manager, there is still a few more weeks of underground work. Still to be done is the installation of poles and conductors and the up-size of some of the lighting vaults, which calls for some demolition. Some of the demolition work plus some boring for new conduits along Main Street calls for the closure of one lane, at times. Motorists are advised to use alternate routes to help ease congestion. LED lights call for far less maintenance and wattage, thus cutting costs.
Article and Pictures by Tarmo Hanula, Register Pajaronian (September 4, 2012)
Tags: banners, led lights, light poles, main street
This entry was posted on Monday, September 10th, 2012 at 5:04 pm and is filed under City of Watsonville, Public Works . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.