City considers upgraded lighting for US 31 bridges, causeway

Feb. 2—The Decatur City Council will consider a roughly $850,000 project Monday that would bring light back to the U.S. 31 bridges over the Tennessee River and a portion of the causeway.

Under an agreement with the Alabama Department of Transportation, which owns the lights, the city would pay to rehabilitate the existing light fixtures, including installation of LED lighting. The project would cover the area along U.S. 31 from Market Street Northeast to about a half mile north of Riverwalk Marina.

The city would enter into a second agreement to maintain the lighting in this area.

The 78 pole lights along the bridges and causeway were installed in 1998 by ALDOT, and the city took over responsibility for maintenance. From 2002 to 2020 Decatur Utilities maintained the lights, charging the city for its time and materials.

DU in 2015 advised the city the lighting system was at the end of its life span. In February 2020, four DU workers were seriously injured at the north end of the southbound bridge when a Chevrolet Silverado plowed into DU pickups which in turn collided with a boom truck. Two of the workers were ejected from the boom bucket, and two others were injured at street level. All four were there to work on the bridge lights.

Soon thereafter, DU General Manager Ray Hardin advised the city that the utility would no longer maintain the lights due to the safety issues and because of "the increasing maintenance requirements of obsolete facilities."

Now this major corridor over the Tennessee River is almost completely dark at night.

City Engineer Carl Prewitt said the city recently completed the engineering for the upgraded lighting system so now they're ready to apply for the permits to do the work. If the council approves the agreement with ALDOT, the city will seek bids on the project. He estimates the bids will be in the range of $850,000.

Councilman Carlton McMasters suggested at a work session Monday that the maintenance portion of the agreement could be included when seeking bids so the council would also know the ongoing costs. Prewitt said the specifications on the maintenance bids are dependent on the type of construction, so the maintenance has to be bid separately.

McMasters also wanted to know if there would be maintenance access points when the new work is complete "so we don't end up in this same place in the future. We don't want to get into this same point again."

Prewitt said there would be maintenance access points, and he and Mayor Tab Bowling said they expect the junction boxes and lighting control center will be more securely sealed to ward off rodents that caused maintenance problems in the past.

Bowling said he plans to meet with a pest control company to get advice on how to keep rodents out of the lighting system.

"Rats and mice seem to like copper," Bowling said. "They like copper, so they will come in and destroy a system."

Bowling said Wednesday he's working with DU officials to see if they will resume maintenance once the new system is installed and he hopes to report back to the council at a later date.

Bowling said the proposal does not include adding lighting on the north end of the causeway from the small backwaters bridge to the split to U.S. 31 North or Alabama 20.

Decatur applied for an Alabama Transportation Improvement and Rehabilitation Project II grant to light all of the causeway and the Hudson Memorial bridges, but the state turned the city down.

Bowling said he's continuing to seek funding and support for lighting the north end of the causeway.

— bayne.hughes@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2432. Twitter @DD_BayneHughes.