Downtown Collingwood, Ontario, Canada, Town of Collingwood

The lights are definitely on in Downtown Collingwood. You can’t miss the new street lighting system that has been turned on between second and third streets as a part of downtown revitalization. Downtown BIA General Manager Sue Nicholson said that the lights that were installed during the last revitalization period in the late 1970’s were state-of-the-art at the time. “They were actually called the ‘Collingwood Fixture’ and it was the best lighting that we could get at that time” she added.

Nicholson said the lights that are just coming down lasted for 30 years, and she hopes the new lights will last as long. Security and safety is more of an issue in today’s world than it was during the first revitalization, especially in light of the Shipyards Development that will see hundreds of new people call the downtown “home”

“As the town grows and more people are using the downtown in the evening, we hope that it encourages traffic in the downtown and help grow the restaurant sector. People will be able to come down in the evenings and be able to see and enjoy the downtown in the evening as they would during the day. As we open up to the waterfront we’ll have more people living downtown so it becomes their backyard and something they can enjoy at all hours. We hope the new lighting will give that extra safety feature It will allow people to feel much more confident as they’re walking and it will light up areas that have been identified by the police as being too dark in previous studies” Nicholson said.

Construction is taking a winter break. The next phase begins in April and will see work throughout the middle block completed. Nicholson said that the fencing will go back up for a short period of time while sidewalks are completed along with plantings and tree installations. “As soon as this work is finished, we’ll be working on two blocks simultaneously from First to Second Streets and from Third to Fourth Streets.” Nicholson said that people will be able to access the downtown during this construction period through the centre block. In addition, pathways will be created in the centre of the construction blocks to allow for pedestrian crossing. During construction, parking in the off street lots will continue to be free all day.