As a part of a beautification project, Brookhaven will soon takeon a new look, with street signs and new lighting designed tofunnel traffic to the downtown area.

“The signs are being paid for as part of a lighting and signagegrant obtained by the city with the help of the Chamber ofCommerce,” said Cliff Brumfield, executive vice-president of theBrookhaven-Lincoln County Chamber of Commerce. “The lighting is inthe final design phase and will be under construction during thespring.”

The new signs will have a dark wrought-iron feel, and will beplaced in the immediate downtown area to start.

Talks are under way to eventually expand the area covered by thesigns to include other areas of Brookhaven. At the moment, though,they will cover the area from Church Street to Second Street andCourt Street over to Chickasaw.

“The new street signs are very attractive,” said Mayor BobMassengill. “The board unanimously agreed on downtownrevitalization, and beautification is a way to make it moreattractive and bring up the property value.”

The focus of the grant-funded project is to funnel additionaltraffic from Brookway Boulevard into the downtown areanaturally.

“This not only supports our downtown merchants, but also isbeneficial to those along the boulevard and other areas thattravelers would need to go past to get downtown,” said Brumfield.”This provides greater exposure for businesses throughout downtownBrookhaven.”

The lights will be installed in addition to the current lightingin the downtown area. Currently, an engineer is providing the citywith specifics on exactly where and how the lighting should beplaced.

“The lights will be very similar to the ones at the MississippiSchool for the Arts,” said Massengill. “We hope they will be insometime in late spring or early summer.”

Meanwhile, Brumfield said the signs could be in as early as lateMarch.

“And what we’re really looking for here is preservation of thedowntown business district in order to set apart a historical areaand make it more alluring to not only local but out of townshoppers,” said Brumfield.