A brighter future for downtown Butler
The men wearing hard hats looked to the sky, but they weren't staring at the county courthouse or the statue at Diamond Park.
They were looking at downtown Butler's new streetlight poles along Main Street as contractors planted them one by one in the ground Monday morning.
“They're LED, and they're more decorative and historic looking,” said Joe Gray, owner of Gray Consulting. “They have a sidewalk arm to them also, so they light the sidewalk as well as the street.”
The black light poles, made of aluminum and some galvanized and powder-coated steel, extend 26 feet high and one arm hangs across the street. The pole has a second arm that hangs 14 feet above the sidewalk to provide light there as well.
Gray said the poles have been specialized to accommodate the city's military banners.
“We custom-designed the poles for the banners to go on,” Gray said. “They'll handle Christmas lights, banners and all sorts of things. They're pretty stout poles.”
The project was the source of mild controversy around the holiday season after Butler decided not to put up its annual Christmas lights due to streetlight replacement.
At the time, city leaders said the lights would have had to come down after the Spirit of Christmas parade on Nov. 30, so the city opted not to put them up.
Rich Hysong, a project manager from Gray Consulting, said another key feature of the new lights will be the lack of overhead wires.
“We won't have any overhead wiring running down Main Street,” Hysong said.
Gray said some delays on the manufacturer's end slowed the project, but now they have everything they need to continue.
He said he expects work to be completed in about two weeks.
Keith Porter is the project manager for the contractor raising the poles, Bronder Technical Services.“We're working out of parking lanes and traffic has run smoothly as we're setting these up,” he said.Porter said the poles are fairly easily assembled.“We did put one together at our warehouse just to see how the nuts and bolts and pieces fit together,” Porter said.The crews will work on one section at a time. West Penn Power will assist by removing the overhead lines leading to the old lights before Bronder installs the new poles and remove the old ones.City Councilman Mike Walter stopped by to check out the progress Monday.He said he was excited to see a project that has been almost 10 years in the making get close to fruition.“Since we started this lighting project, everywhere I go, I look at the lights,” Walter said. “These are some of the nicest lights around.”In all, 54 new light poles will be installed along Main Street spanning from Wayne Street to Brady Street intersections.The $1.3 million project is part of the city's Street Scape plan, which involves projects that beautify and improve Main Street.Hours after the crews had left for the day, local business owner Jimmy Chiprean passed the intersection around the Butler County Courthouse, where the first batch of poles was placed.“It's an enhancement to the downtown area,” he said.Chiprean said he liked the way the poles looked. He said he also liked that they made the street look healthy and lively.“We're really energized with a lot of good infrastructure,” Chiprean said. “It dresses up the street.”
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