A Cranbury official is looking for the township to pay for replacing old street light fixtures, in a move he said on June 19 would improve pedestrian safety and aesthetics.
“All of them produce a lot of light pollution, but they don’t give a lot of really good downcast light that actually provides a lot of illumination,” Township Committeeman Matthew A. Scott said by phone.
He said Cranbury leases its street lights from PSE&G and pays the utility a monthly electric bill for the service. He said another benefit of making the change would be to install lights that are more energy-efficient in a move that would save the township money.
“It’s an easy fix,” Scott said. “It doesn’t cost a lot of money, it addresses pedestrian safety and it makes the town look and, hopefully, feel better.”
He did not have a cost estimate for how much the change from old fixtures to new fixtures would be. He also raised the prospect of replacing fixtures in phases.
He said officials have “a certain amount budgeted for the costs of the lights for this year, and we can’t go beyond that amount.”
Township Committeeman Daniel R. Mulligan III said on June 19 that he would like to see the Township Committee have a work session regarding the issue. He talked of the need to think through the financial implications of taking such a step.
“From there, we would have to create a plan, both from a financial aspect as well as a feasibility aspect, of where and when we could do this,” Mulligan said. “We just can’t go and randomly do things without planning for them in town.”
