Montrose area officials have put the dark times behind them and likely solved a big funding gap to relight seven bridges atop U.S. 59.

The Montrose Management District, Texas Department of Transportation and Houston-Galveston Area Council are poised to split the nearly $2 million cost overrun to replace lighting along Woodhead, Mandell, Dunlavy, Hazard, Graustark and Montrose - the last actually two bridges. H-GAC's technical advisory council on Wednesday approved spending nearly $665,000, sending the final approval on to the Transportation Policy Council, which has the final say later this month.

If approved, and with a state approval also pending but expected, the project could start in a matter of months, with a contract awarded in February or March, officials said.

At first skeptical when the plan was brought to the advisory council in October, chairman Mark Loethen, deputy director of Houston's Department of Public Works and Engineering, said changes to the proposal made it more appealing. Notably, the Montrose district - not TxDOT or the city - has agreed to maintain the lights. State funding also helped, Loethen said.

The bridges were illuminated when rebuilt atop U.S. 59 as part of a freeway widening project completed in 2001. Though popular with drivers and residents in the area, the lights quickly burned out.

"TxDOT has attempted to repair this lighting, and that was not successful," said Alan Clark, director of transportation planning at H-GAC.

Montrose officials spent more than two years working on ways to relight the bridges. After securing $1.4 million in state funds for a $1.7 million rehab of the lights, the management district opted for a more expensive plan to relight the bridges, after a presentation of options by Gandy², a local lighting design firm.

"We were paying attention to the highway and not enough to the neighborhood," said Lance Gandy, one of the firm's principals and founders.

Other improvements also drove the cost up significantly, including TxDOT requiring new electrical systems on all the bridges and costly changes to how lane closings will be conducted.

When completed, Gandy said the long-life, low-energy LED lights planned for the bridges will outline the arches of the bridges, as well as illuminate the street.

Bill Calderon, executive director of the management district, justified the added expense as "one chance in a 20- to 30-year period to make a significant difference in how these bridges look."