LED changeover resumes next week after grant
By Collin Gallant on October 7, 2017.
A watermain break on Spencer Street cut of water service to homes and businesses along the stretch on Friday afternoon.--NEWS PHOTO COLLIN GALLANTMedicine Hat News
A once-halted project to convert all the city’s streetlights to lower-cost, low energy LED lights resumes next week after provincial grants are put toward the project.
The city had completed about two-fifths of the changeovers, moving community by community, in 2014 and 2015 before the five-year program was suspended the following year’s budget.
Now with new money from the province, starting this week the final 5,000 light standard will be changed from traditional high-pressure sodium bulbs to LEDs which use about have of amount of energy to operate.
The news bulbs also have a lifespan considered up to four times longer than previous lights.
All remaining areas are in the southern portions of the city, and should be changed over by the end of November.
Waterline breaks
Work to repair a broken watermain could leave residents and businesses on Spencer Street without water until Saturday afternoon.
The break was reported at noon on Friday and officials say work that closed the roadway may not be finished until Saturday.
The work also closed the Street, west of Kingsway avenue, thought the Kingsway intersection remained open.
Potable water service was cut off to homes and businesses on the 500 block of Spencer Street — west of Marshall Avenue up to the Canada Post building at 420 Kipling Street.
Path closures
Some paths that cross a power pole right of way in South Ridge will be closed intermittently as crews replace poles and string new lines.
The work doubles the capacity of the lines and raises the height of some, but crews will have to block of paths as phases proceed.
Crews will begin staging for the work, while the construction and installation phase will go ahead later in November.
Milestone for South Railway
Final paving and a reworking of rail crossing on South Railway Street is set to get underway on Oct. 10, the city’s municipal works department said Friday.
The four-day project marks is the final construction at the eastern edge of the major reworking of the road that has proceeded in phases since last winter.
Depending on weather, work on the spur line crossing near the Factory Street will begin on Tuesday and could be complete in two days. At that point, two days of final top lift paving with commence.
After that detour, no further full road closures are anticipated between Seven Persons Creek and Ninth Street SE for the remainder of the project.
