New Streetlights, People of Wenatchee!
Photograph: Mae Jones
Residents and visitors in Wenatchee have probably noticed some changes to portions of North Wenatchee Avenue recently, including new streetlights.
The updated lighting features a more artistic design than the pedestrian light standards found throughout the rest of the city.
City of Wenatchee administrator, Laura Gloria, says the new lighting is part of the Mega-Kittrick project which recently began with several improvements at the intersection of Wenatchee Avenue and McKittrick Street.
New traffic signals have also been installed at the intersection but are not expected to go active until the first week of November.
"One of the things that we looked at was McKittrick Street and North Wenatchee (Avenue) kind of becoming the city's signature corridor. So the McKittrick Street Project started with these new streetlights and the decorative banners. We also have installed this really great decorative pavement and enhanced landscaping in the median and the sidewalks."
Gloria says the City won't be replacing all of its longstanding streetlights with the new design, but there are plans to install more of them along the adjacent stretches of Wenatchee Avenue.
"We're going to do intersection improvements to Walnut and Hawley (Streets), Maiden (Lane) and Wenatchee (Avenue), and Horselake (Road) and Wenatchee (Avenue). So the streetlights along those stretches will also be upgraded with the same lightning."
Gloria adds the installation of the new lighting at the additional locations is budget dependent.
She could not provide an exact unit cost for the new streetlights, but says light standards of all varieties are always expensive, regardless of their design, and any new ones purchased by the City are typically more energy efficient.