DBP outlines phased plan to add pedestrian lighting on Fifth Street, finalizes downtown streetscape standard draft

Ellie, executive director, reported that the Downtown Business Partnership is moving forward with a phased pedestrian lighting project for the Fifth and Main area and is preparing procurement and budget steps to install five initial pedestrian luminaires and conduit in coordination with private development work.

The project will be done in three phases, Ellie said. Phase 1 would place bases and conduit and five new pedestrian poles along the Freestone site; Phase 2 would replace four signal poles at the Fifth and Main intersection (a 50/50 cost split with Midtown); and Phase 3 would complete the remaining luminaires and conduit through Seventh Street. Ellie said the DBP has “approval from Melissa in finance to do a sole source project” for Phase 1 with Montana Alliance, which the DBP believes is the only vendor likely to bid the work at that scale.

The plan matters because the Freestone site’s originally approved site plans contained no pedestrian lighting and the DBP and Midtown want to preserve continuity of downtown streetscape and pedestrian illumination. The…