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Brighter LED Lights Heading to Busy Stretch of Roosevelt Avenue

By Katie Honan | May 15, 2015 2:53pm | Updated on May 18, 2015 8:45am
 Lights installed on Roosevelt Avenue and 109th Street, part of a larger project to illuminate the busy street.
Lights installed on Roosevelt Avenue and 109th Street, part of a larger project to illuminate the busy street.
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DNAinfo/Katie Honan

CORONA — Roosevelt Avenue will shine a little brighter with the installation of greener lights. 

New fixtures are currently being installed from 90th to 111th streets, and will eventually extend up to 82nd street, officials said.

Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras, who made the promise to brighten Roosevelt Avenue when she first ran for City Council, said the new lights will improve safety for everyone from families to drivers on the busy street.

"We have brought light to shadow, and it's something that the community has consistently asked for," Ferreras said Friday at a press conference, which was the unofficial "groundbreaking" for the project.

The current light fixtures — which are so old they are no longer in the Department of Transportation's street manual, an official said — had given off an "orange" glow and didn't provide enough lighting, Ferreras said.

The new LED lights will cast a more "realistic" light and will be brighter, a DOT official said.

Work has already begun on the first portion, funded with $500,000 from Ferreras, and will be completed by the fall, she said.

The second section, from 82nd to 90th streets, will be paid with funds from Ferreras' participatory budgeting voting project and will begin later this year. 

The new lights are part of Ferreras' "New Deal for Roosevelt Avenue," which also includes the controversial business improvement district along the stretch.