An evening walk to Lafayette Square is set to get a little brighter - and a little more safe - after action Tuesday by LaGrange City Council.

Council voted to split the cost of $9,000 in additional lights to be placed in the ground around the crape myrtle trees. The city will pay $4,000 and the Downtown LaGrange Development Authority will pay $5,000 to Dukes Electric for the new lights.

The authority had gone to the city about six months ago to request more lighting, but a decision was made to put the request off until spring. Authority Chairwoman Judy Boggus said since that time, more lights have been added inside the fountain, but the additional light “didn’t spray out onto the square” like the authority hoped it would.

Residents who have donated new benches to the square, along with others, have requested more lights to make the square more attractive for those wanting to walk downtown in the evenings.

“The square was beautiful over the holidays because all the Christmas lights were up,” Boggus said. “When those lights came down, you could see how dark the square got.”

Mayor Jeff Lukken said the additional lights will give the city and downtown development group an “opportunity to see how this will work” and see if even more lights are needed.

“We appreciate (Boggus and the DLDA) taking ownership of the square,” he said.

Also Tuesday, council adopted a policy on installing speed humps on city streets after holding a public hearing on the guidelines. Only one resident spoke at the hearing - to inquire how to get the traffic-control device installed on her street.

Lukken told the resident to speak to City Manager Tom Hall, but after Tuesday night’s vote, it may be a more difficult process. The new guidelines, which council reserves the right to tweak, say speed humps may be used only when other, less intrusive methods have been rejected. The humps may be placed only on streets with a posted speed limit of 30 mph or less and can’t be put on a truck route, transit route or “collector” street.

The humps also may not be placed where they would impede emergency vehicles, along with other guidelines.

Council has received a number of requests in recent years for the traffic-control devices in areas all over the city. Hall said council is hoping a uniform policy will slow down the number of requests.

Jennifer Shrader may be reached at jshrader@lagrangenews.com or at (706) 884-7311, Ext. 236.