Pinehaven lamp post project making progress

By Randy Bell

Decorative lamp posts like the ones currently installed along the Clinton Parkway will soon continue down Pinehaven Drive from Northside Drive to Arrow Drive.

Decorative lamp posts may soon illuminate a section of Clinton’s Pinehaven Drive. Work is underway to complete the underground infrastructure so a contractor can install the sixty-eight lights from Northside Drive to Arrow Drive, matching the lamp posts along the Clinton Parkway.

“Their plan is to have them up the end of June, the first of July, the same timing as the Traceway Park lights,” says Mayor Phil Fisher. “I think it’s going to look really great when they get through with it.”

In an update provided to the City May 12, the energy services company overseeing the Pinehaven work and two other lighting projects in Clinton said that over 3,000 feet of infrastructure had been bored. And Path Company reported that it was in discussions with the Natchez Trace Parkway regarding setback and permitting requirements in the area where Pinehaven crosses the Trace right of way.

The new LED lights on Traceway Park’s athletic fields, the Pinehaven lights and the City’s purchase of Clinton’s street lights, currently owned by Entergy, are being financed with a $12 million bond issue, with the lion’s share of that money earmarked for the Traceway project. Parks and Recreation Director Courtney Nunn announced in April that that the new lights at the park would debut during Clinton’s Fourth of July celebration at Traceway.

The street light buyout has faced some delays.

The City expects to spend about $2 million to purchase the lights, rather than continuing to pay a rental fee to Entergy. The mayor has said previously that Clinton will save about $400,000 a year, allowing the purchase to be paid off within five years.