Walkers, joggers and bicyclers enjoying City Park’s newhalf-mile paved trail near Hartman and Lipsey streets will soon seethe light.

Terry Reid, director of the Brookhaven Recreation Department,said his crews should complete the installation of lighting for thetrail within the next two weeks.

The recreation director said crews started trenching for thepower cables Wednesday after receiving the cable.

“We now have everything we need to do the lighting,” he said.”We’re going to put all the wire and poles in the ground and getbids to tie it all together.”

An electrician will be required to finish the job because noneof his crew is certified, Reid said.

Although the original plans for the trail call for 14 lightpoles, he said only seven will be installed initially.

“We should still have a well-lit park and we hope to come backlater and put the rest in,” Reid said. “That’s as much as the grantallowed us to do. Once this work is complete, we’ll have spent allof our grant money.”

The recreation director said he hopes to secure a second grantor fund the additional lights through private donations.

A $100,000 grant from the Mississippi Department of Wildlife,Fisheries and Parks provided the funding to build the trail. Whenthe project came in at a cost of $111,000, Reid said the PearlRiver Basin Development District stepped forward to assist.

“Pearl River Basin made a $15,500 grant to halve the city’s costof the project to allow us to do this much,” he said. “It actuallycost the city a total of $15,500 to put in the trail with thelights and equipment.”

Reid said the city received the exercise equipment that will bescattered at stations along the trail earlier this week, but had tosend it back because it had the wrong mounts. He expected theequipment to be returned by the end of the week.

Crews will begin installing the equipment as soon as it arrives.He said it won’t take long.

“You just drill holes in the concrete to put it down. It’s nobig deal,” Reid said.

The five-station exercise system was donated by Rob Fisher,owner of Quality Home Oxygen.