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Downtown Lighting Gets a New Look

Posted on: Tuesday, 13 June 2006, 09:01 CDT

By Jim Balow, The Charleston Gazette, W.Va.

Jun. 13--Charleston's downtown cityscape is getting a bit of freshening this summer as contractors replace dozens of tired-looking streetlamps.

The old streetlamps, owned by Appalachian Power Co. but underwritten by city taxpayers, have been a source of irritation to some city officials since before Mayor Danny Jones took office, Traffic Engineer George Robson said.

"We've been in discussions with the power company for some years about the condition of the streetlamps," Robson said Monday. "They are on steel poles that have been in place for probably 50 years."

After all those years, the poles and fixtures are showing their age. "They are pale green, rusting and equipment is falling off," Robson said. "There was discussion about refurbishing -- cleaning and painting. But they decided to replace them with fiberglass poles with a new style lighting fixture."

Scott Chambers, an operations support manager for Appalachian Power, said the old poles are still structurally sound. "The metal in those poles is probably thicker than what we use today," he said.

But he concedes the fixtures look dated, and there are other reasons to change. "At that age, wiring starts to be a problem, replacement parts start to be a problem," he said.

Appalachian Power gave the city's Streetscape Committee several choices of new fixtures and poles. That group, with advice from the city's Beautification Commission, chose the equipment being installed now.

A city worker walked through the target area -- Summers to Leon Sullivan Way, Kanawha Boulevard to Washington Street -- and identified 78 streetlamps for replacement. Contracting Enterprises Inc. of Roanoke, Va., started work on Virginia Street a few weeks ago.

It's a fairly complicated process. "We chip away the concrete sidewalk, then extract the [old] pole," Chambers said. Workers dig a hole three to four feet deep and pour a concrete base for the new pole, with a mounting plate for the new pole.

"We pull in new wire from our manholes and set the new pole, which comes in prewired," Chambers said. Finally, the new lighting fixture is mounted at the top.

Unlike the old lamps, which hung over the street on an arm from the pole, the new ones are mounted directly atop the poles.

Chambers described the fixtures as a mongoose-type head with high-pressure sodium lights, some 200 watt, some 400 watt. The lamps swivel and can be aimed. They're also brighter and far more energy-efficient than their earlier counterparts, he said.

He declined to say how much the company is spending on the project.

"It's a significant cost. We're struggling a lot because we haven't done this before," he said.

Taxpayers pick up the tab indirectly through a monthly fee the city pays Appalachian Power per lamp. The fee, set by the state Public Service Commission, covers capital costs, electricity and maintenance, Chambers said.

To contact staff writer Jim Balow, use e-mail or call 348-5102.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Charleston Gazette, W.Va.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Charleston Gazette

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