COLRAIN — With the approval of the Selectboard, the town will replace the five interior light fixtures on the Arthur A. Smith Covered Bridge.
The board authorized up to $2,500 from the Arthur A. Smith Covered Bridge Fund to be used at the discretion of the Historical Commission in replacing the lights.
“Those lights have been working for about 20 years,” said Historical Commission Chair David Nims. “The fact they’ve been in there for 20 years is the big factor, and I guess some of the bulbs are hard to find and replace.”
The need for replacement comes as the condition of the lights continues to deteriorate. Nims said at least three of the fixtures are “just hanging by the wires.”
At last week’s Selectboard meeting, Highway Superintendent Scott Sullivan said the plan is to replace the interior lights, but to keep the lights on the gables on the bridge’s exterior. He also said the town will look into a solar switch, which will turn the lights on as the sun goes down, rather than needing to set a timer that has to be adjusted as sunset times change.
“It’s definitely something to look into,” Sullivan said about the solar switch. “It’s one less maintenance item for the guys to get out and change.”
The new lights are expected to be of a similar luminosity to the current lights, which Selectboard member Thom Griffin said is important because if the lights are too bright, they could damage the bridge’s paint.
“If you make it 5000k (kelvin is a measurement of light’s warmth) as opposed to 3000k, it looks like a welder being used,” Griffin said. “It needs to be a certain number of lumens to be safe.”
The town will work with electrician Jim Slowinski — the brother of Selectboard member Michael Slowinski — to install the lights. Nims said he does not have a concrete timeline, but he expects to get the new lights installed as soon as possible.
Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com or 413-930-4081.