As part of the ongoing improvements under the Interstate 110 system downtown, the Downtown Development District tonight will unveil a sample display of decorative lighting under I-110 at Florida Street that will help illuminate and improve the appearance of the space under the interstate. The lighting will mark the entrance to the pedestrian corridor of the underpass area, which is being redeveloped as a parking lot. Phillips Lighting and Color Kinetics have set up a sample of what DDD Executive Director Davis Rhorer calls a “decorative gateway lighting concept.”
“We’re going to put security lighting under the interstate as well, but at the pedestrian corridor we’re going to do decorative lighting and this is a sample they are going to show us,” Rhorer says. “It looks great and reminds me of Richmond, Virginia and Buffalo Bayou (in Houston).”
DDD has identified 500 spots for badly needed downtown parking under the I-110 and I-10 systems. Work crews from the city-parish are currently restriping some of the areas, and security lighting is being installed. Rhorer estimates it will be late fall before all of the spaces are available for use.
The lighting display will begin at 8 p.m. The public is invited.
—Stephanie Riegel
