Yorkville seeks state help with downtown lighting
By Steve Lord slord@stmedianetwork.com May 11, 2012 12:14PM
Updated: June 14, 2012 8:14AM
YORKVILLE — The city will apply for an Illinois Department of Transportation grant for pedestrian street lighting downtown.
The money would go toward lights throughout downtown along Route 47 after the widening project there is finished.
The lights originally were taken out of the Route 47 project by the city to save money. But the state will leave the electric conduit roughed in along certain places with the idea the city will put the lights in eventually.
Aldermen agreed that if the city is putting the lights in at some point, it would be helpful to get some of it paid for by another source.
“If we’re going to put the lights in anyway, we might as well apply for a grant,” said Alderman Diane Teeling.
“I’m torn here, because we don’t want the extra expense, but we want lights downtown,” Alderman Carlo Colosimo said. “We’re trying to promote bringing people downtown, they need to be able to walk through downtown.”
As it stands now, the Route 47 project that will begin this summer will leave lighting only at the three intersections downtown where there are stop lights.
The IDOT grant is from its Integrated Transportation Enhancement Program, which covers everything from additional lighting to scenic beautification. It can cover flower planting boxes, specialty lights, landscaping and historic accouterments, as long as the project is near a transportation facility or road.
The city is estimating that a grant could save the city about $500,000.
