NEWPORT BEACH : Lido Street Lighting to Be Finished Soon

Despite the collapse of the company doing its street lighting project, residents of Lido Isle are being assured by the city that the work will be finished soon.

The Raymore Co. went under last month, leaving the city with a nearly complete project after months of delays. The company that wrote the completion bond on the project is expected to handle the situation and will hire a company to complete the job, said Public Works Director Benjamin Nolan.

“It won’t be much longer,” Nolan said.

The project is “95% to 98%” complete, said Nolan, adding that he hopes it will be finished in the coming weeks.

The delays in the street light improvement project, and the traffic, noise and construction debris it has produced, have upset many residents of the tiny island community.

The project began in the fall and was expected to be finished before the first of the year. In early February, officials estimated it would be done by the end of the month.

The $800,000 project replaces incandescent street lights with high-powered sodium lights that will cast a more yellowish glow on the island and be four times more energy-efficient.