City plans to brighten Broadway

Cape Girardeau city officials plan to install LED lights to brighten Broadway.

The move comes amid complaints from the public the lights suspended over the middle of the street leave the sidewalks and areas along the edge of the street in darkness.

Deputy city manager Molly Mehner (formerly Hood) said Tuesday the city plans to replace 58 light bulbs with LEDs at an estimated cost of $100,000.

Mehner said transportation trust fund sales tax money will be used to pay for the project.

The city is scheduled to open bids Jan. 25, with construction to soon follow, she said.

The existing streetlights were part of the redesign of Broadway, from Water to Pacific streets, which was completed in 2012.

But complaints about the limited illumination surfaced soon after the project was finished.

In 2015, council members questioned whether Broadway lights were bright enough.

But city manager Scott Meyer said at the time the lights are there for traffic safety, not to illuminate sidewalks.

Mayor Harry Rediger said Tuesday the complaints decreased for a time. But after new street lighting was installed along Main Street earlier this year, public complaints increased, he said.

Rediger said the bright lights on Main Street contrasted with the more subdued lighting on Broadway.

Mehner said the new LED lights that will be installed on Broadway will improve illumination.

“It should brighten up the roadway more,” she said.

But she added it may not do much to illuminate the sidewalks.

“It will not be like Main Street,” she said, referring to the bright lights there.

But Mehner said the LED lights should make a noticeable improvement over the existing lighting.

Mehner said the existing Broadway lighting issue was made worse by a “power glitch” that prevented some lights from coming on because of a faulty sensor on an electric circuit.

Lights would go out, then slowly come back on, she said.

Rediger said the sensor problem surfaced over the past two months.

Mehner said the sensor recently was replaced to correct the problem.

Rediger said the Broadway lights as originally installed were “entirely adequate for the design.”

But he said city officials decided to improve the lighting to address the public’s desire for a brighter Broadway corridor.

Once the LED lights are installed and operating, Rediger said city officials will re-evaluate the matter.

mbliss@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641