By Dominique Tassell
Further work has been done on the main lights in Warwick CBD this morning, with the lights now fully replaced.
This comes four days after the majority of lights on the intersection of Palmerin Street and Grafton Street were replaced.
The lights were reportedly flashing sometime around 8am, with this is a possible temporary side effect of the work.
Electrical Worx Warwick was seen working on site until around midday, and have been charged with the project by Southern Down Regional Council.
Work initially started on the intersection on 1 August.
The block was closed down from approximately halfway down the main strip to King Street, and on Grafton from Stewart Avenue to Acacia Avenue.
A staff member on the day said they were putting in a new control box and upgrading the workings of the lights.
Eventually, they said, the lights will be monitored in Toowoomba.
The shutting down of the streets on 1 August caused some chaos, with drivers seemingly caught unawares in the area that was closed off.
Some drivers were forced to do u-turns and drive the wrong way down the street.
Signage was posted at two stages down Palmerin Street, and at one stage on Grafton Street.
Council confirmed that they issued a media release on 7 July and posted a public notice on their website.
However, noticed was not given through any local media outlet.
Works on the traffic lights Warwick’s CBD were underway again on 8 August, with more notice given this time.
Work started around 6:30am and continued until nightfall, with a larger section of the area blocked off from drivers than on 1 August.
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 will use LED light bulbs instead of the currently used 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.“
