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Lighting was the highest priority of participants in public workshops last year where they identified preferences for streetscape improvements for downtown Berkeley. 

At the end of the month, construction will begin on the streetscape on Shattuck Avenue from University Avenue to Channing Way and on University from Milvia Street to Oxford Street. And lighting for pedestrians will take center stage. 

The project funded by the Measure S bond issue calls for new street lights, sidewalks, trees, public art and drainage systems. 

According to Michael Caplan, the city’s economic development coordinator for downtown Berkeley, $2.5 million is targeted for the complete project, with the funds coming from 1996’s Measure S. 

“We worked close with various commissions and met with the public and civic interest groups,” he said. 

Caplan said it was decided that high-priority items would be highly visible ones with impact and that “we should get a big bang for their buck because the money is limited.” 

The first things pedestrians will notice when the project begins, said Sam Lee, associate civil engineer and project manager, are the crews identifying and marking the surface above underground electrical utilities. 

Following that evaluation, the construction engineers will dig the trench for the utilities either in the street pavement or on the sidewalk. 

Construction will proceed block by block with crews completing all the work on one block before moving to the next one, he said. 

“We hope to be finished by the holidays,” Lee said. 

Holiday time for merchants translates as Thanksgiving, said Deborah Badhia from the Downtown Berkeley Association, which markets businesses and advocates for downtown improvements. 

She’ll be a liaison between the retailers and customers and residents in the area, getting weekly updates from Lee and providing information to mitigate problems caused by the construction. 

Caplan said signage will indicate the path to the stores, to make sure customers have access to businesses. Traffic may be delayed and street closures may be necessary. 

Additionally, on-street parking may be restricted. 

Work is scheduled to run from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

The contractor for the construction is Bauman Landscapes of Richmond, the company that designed Hilltop Mall. Frank Altamura, owner of Bauman Landscapes, declined to discuss the project until the contract is signed. 

The lighting for pedestrians is scaled more to human size than the large “cobra” lights currently over the intersections, said Badhia. 

Pedestrian lights like the ones to be installed on Shattuck Avenue and University Avenue already are in place on Center Street and Addison Street. The globes of those lights disperse light down to the street, Caplan said. And they evoke the turn of the century period providing a certain esthetic style. 

Additionally historical lights that originally were in place on San Pablo Avenue in the 1900s era have been transplanted to Addison Street and Shattuck Avenue as part of the project. 

Caplan said the company that made those lights, Union Metal in Ohio, still had the molds for the historic lights in its plant and made several new ones that will be placed at the intersection of Shattuck and University. They will replace the cobra lights there. 

Crosswalks will be improved on University Avenue to make them safer, and pedestrian “bulb outs” will extend the curbs into the intersection making pedestrians more visible in another safety measure.