Skip to content

Downtown in need of new lights

Over the past 25 years lights installed in the 1980s have weathered badly

Campbell River needs to find at least $1.45 million to upgrade lighting in the downtown.

Over the past 25 years lights installed in the 1980s have weathered badly, city transportation manager Drew Hadfield says in a report to city council’s Tuesday meeting.

“The marine environment has caused extensive corrosion to many of the street lights resulting in lighting failures and structural failures of the light standards,” Hadfield says.

The city has acquired new street lights and has replaced some of the old and failing lights, using the existing bases and electrical services. The uncertainty of the existing capacity and the condition of the electrical services and connections prompted a review and redesign of the system. A review was undertaken last year by Applied Engineering Solutions (AES) that determined that the complete system requires replacing.

AES then evaluated what work needed to done, if any of the existing light standards could be re-used and determine what a new system would look like. This redesign noted that the existing system did not meet current design standards and lighting levels. In order to meet current electrical code and ground lighting requirements, a survey was done and a redesign of the layout was done. The consultant also compared lighting requirements using new lighting technologies that would extend the life of the light fixture and reduce the cost to power the light.

The consultant has provided the city with a preliminary design and cost estimates. The project at the preliminary design stage to redo the lighting system in the downtown areas is $1.45 plus contingency and other costs. These costs will be further redefined once the detailed design is completed and a tender ready package is produced. The consultant will also be looking at additional funding grants through BC Hydro and other agencies. The preliminary redesign of the downtown street lighting has been completed. The remainder of the work has not progressed to date. A revised schedule to complete the works could be done over the next 3-4 months and would result in a tender-ready design for when a funding resource becomes available to undertake the upgrade.