Arrow Drive lighting project gets more money

By Randy Bell

The National Park Service must approve the installation of lights that will be in their right of way underneath the Natchez Trace.

The project to light the walking path on Arrow Drive has begun, with installation evident from the western side of the Clinton High School campus to Pinehaven.

As work continues to install the first phase of bollard lights along the Arrow Drive multi-use pathway, Clinton has received MDOT funding to complete the project.

“We got a $640,000 grant to continue those lights,” says Mayor Phil Fisher. The City will contribute $180,000 to extend the lights from the western side of Clinton High School to Traceway Park. But approval is needed from the National Park Service to install lights on the Natchez Trace right of way.

The installation of the first seventy lights has resumed.

“You’ve got to be realistic,” Fisher says. “Underneath the [Trace] bridge, it’s mighty dark; so, it becomes a safety issue. I need to take whatever steps are needed to make sure people can walk at night under the bridge and not be fearful.”

A Meridian company is already being paid more than $317,000 to install the first seventy lights along the path from Pinehaven Drive to the high school. That work has resumed after being delayed by some utility issues.

The initial phase was paid for with money left over from $1 million in legislative funding, which also covered the cost of repaving Northside Drive.

The MDOT grant will pay for one hundred forty additional lights—which are three and a half to four feet high – to be spaced thirty-seven feet apart.