Cast iron light pole bases on Bagley with tops removed and bottoms spray painted

[Lowell]

I noticed these last night. Hopefully this means restoration and not removal. Does anybody know their fate?

[ekleezy]

A lot of the light poles in midtown were removed a few months ago too. We've been without street lights for over a year now. From what I understand it's part of a long process to upgrade the lighting system. The city used to be in charge of the lighting system but now they're turning it over to DTE.

[Gistok]

Lowell.... what is going on inside the United Artists Building former bank area? The lights are all on in that image?

[RO_Resident]

Saw some contractors repairing and replacing cast iron light poles at Woodward and Jefferson for the past week. In some instances, they have been they are digging up and replacing the foundations. In others, they have been relocating the foundations.

Another contractor has been priming and painting poles.

They have also been rearranging some of the portable lights around Campus Martius, too.

[Jimaz]

All I know is that before DTE removes or trims a tree, they send someone out to spray paint a ring around it first. There's not much left to trim on that pole.

[hybridy]

They're all coming out. Being replaced with LED period-style replacements

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/downtown-detroit-to-have-streetlights-replaced

[Lowell]

Lowell.... what is going on inside the United Artists Building former bank area? The lights are all on in that image?

Not sure. For a few years now those lights will be turned on sporadicly for no apparent reason. A mutual friend has no answer either. Ticks me off that Ilitchville gets a pass on leaving that ruin untouched [especially the west side where the brick has been stripped and which I have to look at from our office]. And how many more years do they get to fence off the sidewalk to a single lane path? /end rant.

[Detroit Signal]

The part of the pole in the picture is the HARDEST to remove. The contractor usually cuts the entire pole apart in sections because the damn things are so heavy. The footings for these beasts are ridiculous. There will be another crew along to get rid of the rest by busting up the slab and digging it out. They will then replace the slab.

[mtburb]

They're all coming out. Being replaced with LED period-style replacements

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/d...ights-replaced

I've noticed elsewhere on the internet that they've already completed that on Fort Street, will see these personally tomorrow.

[GMan]

The part of the pole in the picture is the HARDEST to remove. The contractor usually cuts the entire pole apart in sections because the damn things are so heavy. The footings for these beasts are ridiculous. There will be another crew along to get rid of the rest by busting up the slab and digging it out. They will then replace the slab.

I know that these bases used to do a great job stopping the cars of drunk drivers on Outer Drive and Spinoza in Rouge Park!
They were attracted to them like moths.
Light pole always won.

[K-slice]

Yep, out with the old in with the new. They had a few old light poles just like this at the intersection of Randolph and Cadillac Square with the orange sprey paint. Now they're gone and new ones are there. I figure they realized there was no way to stop thieves from stealing the wires out of the old stye so they had to go.

While it's unfortunate that the old ones are being removed I am amazed that many of the new lights replicate the old ones almost exactly. For example:

Old streetlight:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...psba6bd107.jpg

New streetlight:
https://thumb1.shutterstock.com/disp...-472536193.jpg

[Detroit Signal]

Yep, out with the old in with the new. They had a few old light poles just like this at the intersection of Randolph and Cadillac Square with the orange sprey paint. Now they're gone and new ones are there. I figure they realized there was no way to stop thieves from stealing the wires out of the old stye so they had to go.

While it's unfortunate that the old ones are being removed I am amazed that many of the new lights replicate the old ones almost exactly.

Had PLD kept a coat of paint on the old ones, they wouldn't have needed replacement like this. Highland Park, GP and a few other cities that use Union Metal brand poles have managed to preserve theirs through maintenance. The thieves stole the copper because Kwame thought a plastic boot was the solution to the problem. CAY redirected revenue generated from PLD to the city general fund, and THAT was the end of capital reinvestment on PLDs equipment. That included painting signals, light poles, wiring upgrades, street light upgrades, etc.

The new light poles are very accurate for the most part. Some are not quite the correct scale but don't need to be because the luminaries and brackets are much lighter aluminum rather than cast iron.

The fancy pineapples that used to be on the tops of the old poles......30 lbs. easily. I hope none of them ever fell off the poles.

[Danny]

I noticed these last night. Hopefully this means restoration and not removal. Does anybody know their fate?

They are being replaced by cheap aluminum floral tail L.E.D. fixtures all over Gilberttown Detroit. It will be beautiful.

By the way, Hello neighbor!

[bibs]

What is protruding from top of the new pole? Is it an antenna for Wi-Fi, micro cell or a GPS beacon for autonomous cars?

[archfan]

What is protruding from top of the new pole? Is it an antenna for Wi-Fi, micro cell or a GPS beacon for autonomous cars?

Nevermind what it is - just remember to smile when you look up.

[mtburb]

I can confirm these new lights have been installed on the following streetsas of today:
-Fort Street between Cass and M-10 and are currently being installed between Washington and Shelby
-Randolph between Larned and past Cadillac Square
-Cadillac Square between at least Bates and Randolph
-Farmer between Bates and Monroe
-East Jefferson between at least the RenCen and just past I-375
-Congress between Beaubien and Brush

Here's a photo of one at Jefferson and Beaubien. These new lights look nothing like the replica historic lights that have been installed since 2000, instead they more resemble those that were installed on Telegraph in Taylor during the mid-2000's and those that were installed on Southfield Road between I-75 and I-94 in 2011.

[K-slice]

In front of my building on Washington today they were removing the glass and bulb of the big 5 light posts as well as the matching single ones. At first I thought they were replacing the bulbs but the guy in the cherry picker was just tossing the glass tops into a trailer, completely destroying them in the process. I can't imagine they are going to replace these entire posts since they look to be in great condition and replicate the old 20's posts... Anyone know the story with this?

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...027_141341.jpg
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...027_141350.jpg

[1953]

Over the past month, every pole on Abbott between 1st and 3rd was completely removed and replaced.

[Infrastructure]

I'm guessing those weren't LED. They were installed around 2005 or so as part of the redo of Washington Boulevard. I imagine PLA wants to get everything over to LED to reduce operating and maintenance costs.

The whole Washington Boulevard circuit has been down for the better part of 3 weeks. It's strange to walk the street in total darkness. They moved in some temporary lights last week that helps a little.