DETROIT – The Public Lighting Authority (PLA) has begun the construction process to install new street lights on Jefferson Avenue, stretching from the Alter Road city border all the way to I-375 in downtown, a segment that has been dark for decades.

Beginning at the northwest corner of Alter Road and Jefferson, workers have begun setting the first of 454 new foundations for the steel poles on which the lights will be affixed the entire six mile stretch.  The new lights will be 400-watt equivalent Light Emitting Diode (LED) lights.

PLA Chief Executive Officer, Odis Jones said the installation of foundations for the new lights on Jefferson shows that the PLA is “continuing our progress in providing the citizens of Detroit with the lighting they deserve.  With lights not working on Jefferson – one of the City’s busiest thoroughfares- for years, clearly we are on our way to reversing decades of disinvestment in the City’s street lights.”

Working in sections from Alter, residents can expect to see new poles installed as early as the next three to four weeks, and the first section of new LED lights between Alter and Connor fully operational by the end of September. The construction of the remaining phases is set to be completed with Jefferson relit to I-375 by December 31, 2015.

The construction process on Jefferson consists installing new foundations, new poles, new luminaires, new wiring and new circuits. Once the new lights are installed, the old lights will be removed.

As the PLA rebuilds the City’s street lighting system, it has a goal of completing all neighborhood and collector streets by the end of 2015.  The installation of street lights citywide, which began in February 2014, already has passed the 47,000 mark and is significantly ahead of schedule.  Work on the eight major thoroughfares will be completed by the end of 2016. Approximately 18,000 additional new LED lights will be installed in the city during the next year and a half, totaling to 65,000 new LED street lights across Detroit.

About the Public Lighting Authority of Detroit

The Public Lighting Authority (PLA) is a state-created authority whose mission is to improve, modernize and maintain all street lights in the City of Detroit with brighter, more reliable, more energy efficient lights.  It is a completely separate legal entity from the City of Detroit.  The Authority is overseen by a five-member board that is appointed by the Mayor and the City Council.  All five board members are residents of Detroit.

Before the PLA started its work, approximately 40 percent of the street lights in Detroit didn’t work. The PLA’s goal is to complete relighting all neighborhoods in Detroit by the end of 2015 and all major thoroughfares by the end of 2016 with 65,000 new LED street lights. If residents need to report a new street light outage, please contact the Authority at (313) 324-8290 or toll free (844)LIGHT313.

For more information, visit pladetroit.org, facebook or on Twitter.