Fix up, lighten up, shape up|[10/03/07]

Work along Interstate 20 to improve deterioration to light poles over 24 years will continue for the next month, said Jeff Curtis, Vicksburg project engineer for the Mississippi Department of Transportation.

The project, which began about a month ago by contractors Wye Electric Inc., and All-Terrain Powerline Construction and Crane Services Inc., will cost MDOT $326,000 to improve the bases of about 45 poles that run east on I-20 through Vicksburg from the Mississippi River Bridge to U.S. 61 North, which is about six miles.

The bases of the poles are worn and will receive new footings and anchor bolts that will help fit them into 20- to 25-foot concrete columns in the ground, Curtis said.

“It’s the only way to get them back into shape,” he said.

He indicated that the deterioration of the pole bases has been from the aging of the structure — not from vehicles or other equipment striking the bases. New holes are being made to secure the poles into the ground, but the most any one pole will be relocated will be about 12 feet from its original location, Curtis added.

“We’re trying to move them as little as possible,” he said.

To complete the project, workers have been using an auger to dig the holes. Curtis said they, then, fill the holes with concrete and put new 4- to 5-foot anchor bolts on the top. The existing poles will then be bolted to the concrete base.

The poles have been illuminating Vicksburg since 1983 and were installed as part of a pilot program by MDOT, providing the first lighted stretch of Interstate in the state designed for ease of maintenance. The lamp housing on the metal poles can be lowered for bulb replacement using cables inside the poles. Vicksburg has about 84 light fixtures along I-20 in Vicksburg’s municipal limits.

The four-lane interstate was completed in Vicksburg with the construction of the Mississippi River Bridge in 1973.