Two of the streets in downtown Natchez will get a new look this summer as city officials move some of the overhead wires underground.

With the help of a $700,000 grant received last year from the Mississippi Department of Transportation, the city will replace the traffic lights on Franklin and Canal streets, said City Engineer David Gardner.

The Franklin Street lights will be similar to those on Main Street, with lights attached to black poles on the side of the street. And traffic lights on Canal Street will be attached to black poles with an arm stretching over the street, similar to the lights at the Canal and D.A. Biglane street intersection.

&uot;It goes a long way in cleaning up the downtown historic district,&uot; Mayor Larry L. &uot;Butch&uot; Brown said.

&uot;We’ll remove the unsightly signals that have the wires strung overhead,&uot; Gardner said. &uot;We’ll go underground with the wires.&uot;

But the change isn’t just aesthetic. The city will also upgrade the technology that runs the traffic light system.

A master computer will monitor the traffic flow so that lights can be adjusted depending on how much traffic is coming through an intersection, Gardner said. Cameras mounted at each traffic light will monitor whether a car is at the intersection and will change accordingly.

&uot;We feel like we need that, especially with the convention center coming downtown,&uot; Gardner said.

City officials are in the process of building a $12 million convention center complex downtown, which will include a convention center, community center and renovated Natchez City Auditorium. The convention center will be located between Main and Franklin and Wall and Canal streets, and the community center, already under construction, is across the street on Franklin, in the old Service Motor Co. building.

Right now, the traffic light system is run by a timer system; lights change based on a fixed time.

&uot;We’re going to introduce some of the most up-to-date technology in traffic in this project,&uot; Gardner said.

The MDOT grant requires no matching funds from the city, he said. Gardner said the project will likely begin this summer, and he doesn’t anticipate it disrupting traffic too much. It will probably take about 10 months to complete.