PORT ANGELES — Work on replacement of 25 light poles in downtown Port Angeles that was slated to start Monday has been delayed because of the supplier’s production problems.
“There was a mishap in production. The poles are a ways out,” said Brian Anders, an electrical engineering specialist with the public works department.
Crews with Port Angeles-based Olympic Electric, under a $193,291 contract with the city, were set to replace 25 light poles and their bases along Front and First streets between Lincoln and Valley streets, Anders said.
The work was supposed to wrap up by Nov. 20, Anders added.
“It’s going to be questionable whether they’re going to be able to begin by then,” Anders said.
“They won’t be able to end by then.”
Anders said the delay will not cost the city any extra money.
“The contract amount would stand,” he said.
“We’re in the process of figuring out what to do next on the city’s end.”
Anders said the contractor called him Thursday afternoon about the delay.
“Until the manufacturer can produce and deliver, [the replacement] is on hold,” Anders said.
He said the pole manufacturer is HAPCO Aluminum Pole Products, based in Virginia.
Once the new poles are acquired, everything — from the arms that hold the lamp to the base and brackets that anchor the poles to the sidewalk — on the old poles will be replaced, Anders said.
The new poles will look exactly like the old ones, he added.
“They’re just going to be shiny because they will be new,” he said.
Once work begins, crews will block areas of sidewalk and parking spaces immediately surrounding the poles for one to two days at a time so the old bases can be dug up and replaced, he said, adding that up to four parking spaces could be blocked at any one time.
Most sidewalks and street-side parking along First and Front would remain open.
“There shouldn’t be much [vehicle] traffic affected by it,” Anders said.
He said the work would produce some noise, though nothing too loud.
“It’s not going to be like a pile driver working,” he said.
“They’ll have to do some [concrete] cutting. That will be the noisiest part, but that will be short duration.”
The poles to be replaced average between 40 and 50 years old, and have reached the end of their useful lives, Anders said.
“I would expect [the new poles] to last just as long,” he added.
The bolts anchoring many of the poles along First and Front streets to their concrete bases are severely rusted, he said.
The downtown light pole replacement follows replacement of aging poles along Lincoln Street last year, Anders said.
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Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.
