Shenandoah street lights to go LED

May 20, 2023

KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL - Sodium-vapor street lights illuminate North Emerick Street in Shenandoah on May 15, 2023. Shenandoah will soon have new LED street lights throughout town.

SHENANDOAH – The familiar yellow glow of Shenandoah's sodium-vapor street lights will soon be replaced by the white LEDs seen in most surrounding communities.

Borough Council approved two motions at Monday night's meeting that will allow for PPL Electric Utilities to replace all but two blocks of Shenandoah's street lights with LEDs at no cost to the borough. Councilman Joe Boris said there are over 400 lights that will be replaced.

"That will also drop our electric bill," Councilman Joe Boris said at Monday's meeting. LED lights are more energy efficient than sodium-vapor lights, according to PPL.

PPL has offered the program since 2016, and several local municipalities took advantage of it shortly after, including West Mahanoy Township, Mahanoy City, and Frackville.

Shenandoah owns two blocks of street lights along Main Street — the block between Cherry and Oak, and the block between Coal and Lloyd — which will be the borough's responsibility to replace. Those lights were purchased using a grant about 15 years ago.

Boris said the borough owns 20 of those lights, some of which need repairs as it is. There are 62 in total downtown, of which 5 are not working, and an electrician will work on repairing those lights.

Work on replacing the sodium-vapor street lights throughout town will begin in August, Boris said. In total, 420 will be replaced.

Kaylee Lindenmuth is a Shenandoah native with a passion for journalism and the community she calls home.

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