By Dominique Tassell
Works on the traffic lights Warwick’s CBD were underway again on 8 August, with a local company replacing the lights.
Work started around 6:30am and continued until nightfall, with a larger section of the area blocked off from drivers than on 1 August.
Locals seemed to have less issue this time, with no one caught unawares.
Work was however hampered in the afternoon by one local allegedly behaving dangerously around equipment and arguing with workers.
Works were carried out by Electrical Worx Warwick, and tradies kept the energy up during the long time by blasting the radio.
Hits included “Miss Independent” by Kelly Clarkson.
The new lights use LED light bulbs instead of the old halogen light bulbs.
The use of LED light bulbs will mean less power consumption and longevity for the lights.
This fulfils part of the Council’s environmental sustainability strategy to replace street lights with more sustainable LED bulbs, but will also “improve visibility and safety” at the Palmerin Street and Grafton Street intersection.
A representative of council stated that “during a recent inspection, this unit was found to be obsolete and this instigated the upgrade“.
“A failure, should one have occurred, on this unit would have rendered the traffic lanterns inoperable at this intersection.“
Of the 8 August works, the representative said that “the new system will make a significant improvement to traffic safety at this intersection as the signals will be more visible than those illuminated by the existing incandescent globes, which only provide a few levels of brightness“.
“A secondary benefit is that maintenance and power usage requirements on this system will reduce significantly with the reduction in power cost being driven down by an estimated 80 per cent, supporting the newly adopted Environmental Sustainability Strategy 2021-2031.
“Council received advice from Transport and Main Roads and consulted with Emergency Services to inform the communications strategy and in this instance no statutory advertising was not required as the works did not affect changing any of the movements at the intersection.
“The junction will again be closed between 6am and 5pm on Sunday 8 August 2021 with route diversions in place to ensure safe movement of traffic whilst the works are completed.“
