Fremont to receive grant for downtown lighting project

By Tracy Buffington/Executive Editor

Fremont will receive an additional $12,500 to help pay for new street lights in the downtown area.

The Nebraska Department of Roads this week announced more than $7 million had been awarded to complete 11 transportation enhancement projects with money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

For Fremont, that means extra money to help complete the second phase of a downtown lighting project, said Leslie Carter, executive director of MainStreet of Fremont. It also means the typically 20 percent match from the city has been waived, she said.

"That's great news," Carter said of the grant.

Plans call for historically accurate lighting to continue all the way down Main Street. The project is more complex and costly than the first phase because new underground wiring will need to be installed from Third Street to First Street, Carter said.

Phase one of the program placed new street lights along Sixth Street from Broad Street to Main Street and then down to Fifth Street.

MainStreet already had received a $50,000 transportation enhancement grant through the Nebraska MainStreet program, which is now called Heritage Nebraska.

Carter said the city is awaiting approval from the Nebraska Department of Roads and the federal government before seeking bids on the project, something it has been doing for some time.

She is hopeful work can be done yet this summer, but it depends on getting all the necessary approvals.

"It's been in their hands since last fall," Carter said. "Grant money is not easy to come by, so we're willing to wait."