City vows to replace iconic “dummy light” broken during construction

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The historic "dummy" traffic light on Beacon's Main Street, intact, before it was accidentally knocked over.
The broken dummy light with temporary repairs on April 26.

BEACON – The city’s iconic “dummy light” at the intersection of Main and East Main Streets in Beacon was knocked over by a construction vehicle on Tuesday.  After extensive public outcry on social media, the city has vowed to replace the light with one that closely resembles the one hit by a truck.

City Administrator Chris White said they are ordering replacement parts so that the light can be operational once again.

“It was installed about 100 years ago. This is not the first time that a vehicle has run into it. I also know that the light fixture head that was damaged was not the original. It was actually updated a couple of times and had LED bulbs in it,” White said.

The city began milling the more than one-mile long Main Street on Monday in advance of the repaving of the thoroughfare that is slated to start next week and take three days to complete.

White issued a statement saying that “the base of the dummy light is intact and undamaged, and the light will be replaced so that it matches as closely as possible the dummy light that was damaged.”  The light that was damaged on Tuesday was an LED replacement of the original light.

Beginning on Monday, May 2, the city will be repaving the entire length of Main Street.  To accommodate the work, there will be no parking on Main Street from 5 a.m. on Monday until 9 a.m. on Thursday, May 5.  The asphalt work is expected to conclude on Wednesday, May 4 and the re-striping will take place from Wednesday night until early Thursday morning.



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