Improvements to sidewalks and streetlights in downtown Madison will continue as long as good weather cooperates, said City Manager David Nunn at a council meeting in late July.

“We’re within a day or two of beginning to lay brick,� on that stretch of West Washington St. that runs in front of Ol’ Murray’s Restaurant, the NAACP county offices, and the Mapp-Gilmore Funeral Home. Brick sidewalks are also planned for the front of SunTrust Bank on Hancock St.

New street lighting and a couple of trees are also expected to be part of the ongoing improvements. The city currently has three separate models of street lamps that it uses in various parts of Madison. In the historic downtown, a cast-aluminum model with glass globes and a decorative finial on top is used. These are virtually identical to the streetlights that decorated downtown Madison in decades past, except that the newer versions have flag holders, banner standards and electrical outlets as added features. In residential areas and in the corridor, similar but slightly different lights are set.

“Anytime we install a new fixture or light, we choose one of these designs,� said Nunn. The lights that are being phased out, the Williamsburg-style fiberglass poles that were installed downtown in the mid-eighties, are no longer made. In order to make repairs to lights, Georgia Power, who maintains the poles, must “cannibalize� parts from other lights, said Madison Planning Director Monica Callahan.