By Stephen Smoot
The City of Shinnston is exploring ways to light up the life of Downtown. As Tori Drainer, Shinnston City Manager, states, bringing better light to the streets of Downtown is important for a number of reasons.
Improving street safety serves as the prime priority, Drainer explains. “We have a dance studio with young children” and “side streets with children playing in their yards.” Also, the sidewalks sometimes remain busy into the night with scheduled events and people patronizing businesses/
“This has been a topic for sometime now,” she said.
Mon Power is currently working with the city to ensure that an optimal design gets put into place. A “test process” will “see what size wattage works in which areas.” Two lights on Pike Street will test two different sizes, while two other designs of light will be tested on Duffy Street.
All the new designs use some form of LED.
Drainer predicts that changing over from high pressure sodium and metal halide to LED will save the City money. Each light could bring a substantial savings over the current system, which Drainer says “we can use to install new lights in areas that are not well lit.”
Much of the work of testing and installation is being performed by Mon Power. Their roles lie in retrieving pole numbers, sending information to designers and engineers, and their workers will replace the light fixtures when a final option is selected.
Do not expect, however, for the lights to all appear at once. Drainer shared that “a project of this magnitude has to be done in sections.”
“A lot of the business owners in town are ecstatic, as well as the citizens,” she said, adding that in the future “there are different areas where we would like to see new lights added, for example at the park, as well as in the area of the school.”