Downtown Tuscaloosa Poised to Get a Little Brighter

Downtown Tuscaloosa's most popular block is poised to get a little brighter as the city council and Alabama Power draw close to a deal to install or upgrade 20 street lights there.

At a Tuesday evening meeting of the council's Public Projects Committee, city engineer Mike Gardiner explained that the utility provider already owns and operates more than 20 poles with street lights in the area of 4th Street and 23rd Avenue - known better to locals as Temerson Square.

Now Alabama Power is planning to upgrade the lumens output by lights on 13 of those existing poles and also install seven brand-new poles to house additional lights. Eight of their existing lights in the area will not be changed.

Alabama Power is asking to partner with the city to finance the project, and the Projects committee recommended giving Alabama Power just under $50,000 for new poles and over 180 feet of wire. They also recommended taking on the cost of operating the new lights, which is expected to cost about $530 each month.

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Alabama Power has its own facility in Temerson Square and city councilman Lee Busby briefly bristled at the idea of the city agreeing to pay the power bill for street lights around that property, but Gardiner reminded him how many pedestrians walk around that block and the dozen-plus bars and restaurants there.

"This is all in an effort to enhance the lighting in this area where we have a lot of pedestrian traffic," Gardiner said. "The only other option we have would be to look at installing our own standard street lighting and the cost would be exorbitant to remove all their poles and get ours in, you'd be talking maybe more than $30,000 per pole," Gardiner said.

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With the committee's unanimous favorable recommendation, the measure will go before the entire seven-member city council when they meet next week. If it passes, Gardiner said there will be an 8 to 10-week lead time for the poles to be manufactured and shipped, which could see the new infrastructure installed before the end of the year.

For more coverage of news in West Alabama, stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread.