Solar streetlights proposed for Memorial Drive median before road widens to six lanes

The City Council will consider replacing the old median lights on part of Memorial Drive with solar-powered poles on Wednesday, Oct. 7, so the corridor stays lit while crews widen it.

The $289,465 purchase from Facility Solutions Group is on the consent agenda and would use a BuyBoard cooperative contract. It covers 21 poles, 30 feet tall, between Standridge Drive and FM 423: two with a single cobra-head fixture and 19 with dual fixtures, based on a lighting study by the company, according to the engineering staff report.

Why the lights have to move

Design plans for the first phase of the Memorial Drive widening, from Standridge Drive to about 200 feet east of Paige Road, are 90% complete. The project takes the road from four lanes to six by building into the center median, and the city wants the streetlights moved or replaced before construction starts.

East of FM 423, Oncor operates the median lights, and four of them are being relocated at no cost to the city, with that work expected by December, the report says. West of FM 423, CoServ owns 11 median lights, and seven of those poles conflict with the wider pavement.

Staff wrote that CoServ would not allow the lights in the narrower median that will remain and proposed instead putting 20 new lights along the curbs on both sides, at a ballpark cost of about $392,000 including removal of the old ones.

Costs and upkeep

Staff say the solar option avoids electricity charges entirely, saving an estimated $315 a month, and that replacement poles run about $5,000 less than the city's standard decorative pole. Batteries sit inside the poles, the fixtures are LED, and the poles go on breakaway mounts.

The lights carry a one-year labor and materials warranty and five years on materials, after which the city's traffic signal crew would maintain them with its existing bucket truck.

The city has used solar lighting at facilities, on trails and on a few residential streets, and the report points to Rowlett as a nearby city that recently lit two major roads the same way. With engineering already approved, the lighting work totals $954,033, paid from the 2024-25 capital budget, and Denton County is to reimburse half, according to the financial summary.

Also Wednesday, the council's regular agenda includes a two-year interlocal agreement for city police to provide law enforcement on North Texas Tollway Authority property, for no more than $672,068. The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall, 6053 Main St.

Sources

thecolony.granicus.com

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