Broadway Street in Cape Girardeau will soon be getting a little brighter. On Monday, the city council approved to enter into a contract with Cotner Electric Company for their Broadway LED Streetlight Conversion Project.
City engineer Casey Brunke says currently, some areas of the street are darker than others, which they hope to fix by replacing the high pressure sodium street lights hanging over the center of the corridor with LED lights.
“Typically where there's areas of darkness, light is measured in foot candles.” says Brunke. “So across the board, were seeing an increase in about a half a foot candle in all the dark areas.”
Brunke says the new fixtures will not only help with lighting issues, but they’ll reduce maintenance costs for the city and require less changing than the current fixtures. And, Brunke says they’ll look similar to the ones currently installed.
A plan for the project should be drawn up within the next several weeks. After construction begins, drivers should use caution traveling down Broadway, and to look out for detours from Pacific to Spanish Streets.
The funds for the Broadway LED Streetlight Conversion Project are coming out of Transportation Trust Fund 5.