Last week the Town of Lloyd delivered on a long promised project to upgrade the street lighting at the Bridgeview development. Town Councilman John Fraino coordinated the project and managed the upgrade of 36 new LED lights.

The project was quickly completed; beginning last Wednesday and finishing by late Friday afternoon. Town employees from the Water and Highway departments removed the old lights and poles, then installed the new ones. The electrical work was completed by the employees of Big Reds Electric Service.

Fraino pointed out that the original estimate for the project was approximately $125,000, however, the actual cost to the town dropped to about $68,000 because there was no need for engineering work due to the existing poles, according to Highway Superintendent Rich Klotz and Building Department Director Dave Barton. Further savings accrued because town employees performed much of the installation.

“The support I received from the Building, Highway and Water departments was amazing. All town employees worked so well together it was a pleasure to be a part of it,” Fraino said.

Fraino said on day one they were able to remove and replace five lights.

“We realized if we assembled the lights and poles ahead of time the project would go much faster,” he said. “On day two we installed 18 lights and on day 3 we did 14 lights plus completing the cleanup of the old lights and poles.”

Fraino said bids for the lights and poles went out to four suppliers and Wisconsin Lighting Labs from Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin was the successful bidder. The lights were manufactured in Wisconsin and shipped to the Town in four weeks. Fraino said bids for the electrical work were also sent out to several contractors, with Big Reds Electrical of Highland being the successful bidder for this part of the project.

“The cooperation and coordination of the town employees, Big Reds team (Gerard, Joe and Mike) and Central Hudson was just great to witness,” Fraino said. “It was a true example of what we can accomplish if we work together.”

Fraino said as the work progressed, many residents of Bridgeview stopped to say how pleased they were with the new, brighter lighting.

“It was great to hear, we love the lights, thank you,” Fraino recalled.

Fraino said during the projects early assessment, he realized there were two areas in Bridgeview that were completely lacking in lighting.

“We proposed installing lighting in those locations to remedy the situation,” he said. “That would be four additional lights that will be installed within the next two weeks.”

Superintendent Dave Plavchak said this lighting project has been under consideration for several years.

“We were able to find lights that came in at a decent price but it still took us 10 months,” he said.

Plavchak still met his goal to get the lights in by Halloween.

“That would help them out up there and luckily we were able to pull that off,” he said. “There was a lot of coordination with Central Hudson to make sure we had everything set for them like the permits, the pre-approvals and the electricians. It was a lot of work and they got it done on time so when the kids were trick or treating they had a little light, actually, a lot of light. It now looks nice up there.”