BROOKINGS – Brookings Municipal Utilities is in the process of upgrading street lighting, City Manager Jeff Weldon said.

“BMU is replacing all streetlights that are currently on wooden poles, many of which are rotting or in some state of decay and can potentially be unsafe. There are approximately 2,000 of them all over town, but mostly in the older neighborhoods. BMU is systematically replacing the wooden poles with either steel or aluminum poles like all the newer ones,” Weldon said.

The new poles may not be in the same location as the old ones, and that’s because technology has changed.

“The location of many poles was originally to also facilitate overhead aerial power lines, which, for the most part, have all been buried over time. Those (previous) locations were not necessarily in the best location to maximize illumination of the streets, which, of course, is the primary goal. When the wooden poles are replaced with new poles, they may be placed in slightly different locations to maximize illumination of streets,” he said.

Changing the location of the street lights may change where residents are used to seeing the lights shine, he warned, but traffic safety is of utmost importance.

“Residents may notice (poles) may be in different locations but this is to maximize the illumination of streets in a consistent pattern and make the most efficient and effective use of spacing and the lights. It is not the purpose of streetlights to illuminate private property,” Weldon said.

“This process by BMU will take a couple years to complete the entire community,” he added.