Installation Starts on Avenue of the Arts Light Masts on North Broad
By Molly Daly
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - New lighting is being installed on North Broad Street as part of the effort to extend the Avenue of the Arts well into North Philadelphia.
On Monday, crews started installing cylindrical metal bases for the 41 masts that will run up the middle of North Broad from Callowhill Street to Glenwood Avenue.
Jeffrey Loo is with Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, the firm that's managing the beautification project. He says much of the landscaping is done, and soon, the 55-foot tall columns will rise, lit from within:
"The downlight will be kind of an LED at a pedestrian level, and it does shine up and light up a of dichroic glass, which has both a blue and a yellow hue to it."
Loo says the illuminated poles will provide a visual link the length of the Avenue of the Arts:
"It's taking North Broad Street, which is full of these wonderful different neighborhoods, finding a common link, and drawing them together."
The prospect of all those glowing masts running up Philly's main drag was a hit with Dawn Chellis, who lives in the Yorktown section.
"North Philly needs a facelift, so we'll welcome anything that would brighten up North Philadelphia," she says.
For Jazzmyn, a first year Temple art major, it's confirmation that's she's in the right place:
"It'll be really cool. I love that Philadelphia is so - it's big on art, and it's beautiful, the architecture's beautiful. I love Philadelphia."