By KWGS News/National Weather Service
Tulsa, OK – Expressway lighting that was turned off last November to save $240,000 from the City's budget will be re-illuminated Sept. 1.
The City's traffic engineering staff, which oversees expressway and street lighting and traffic signals, has been working with PSO to make sure lighting circuits are ready to energize.
Budget shortages and higher energy costs, compared to last year, mean there is only funding to pay for 10 months of expressway lighting. When the lights are re-illuminated around the 1st of September, they should remain lit for the remainder of the fiscal year which ends June 30, 2011.
Lighting on some sections may remain off, or be turned off periodically, to accommodate work on the circuits or work being done by contractors on expressway renovation projects.
Expressways remained lighted around interchanges and congestion areas. Lights were not turned off at 26 of the 103 expressway lighting circuits. All electricity to street lights on arterial streets and in residential areas remained on.
Public Works crews have been working since June to repair and recondition lighting circuits in expectation of the circuits being turned back on..