Hayward Field – Finish Line Truss
Eugene: a ballasted, guyed anchorage for the finish line truss inside Hayward Field for the 2025 Eugene Marathon — no anchors into the ground.
LED Light Poles for Sisters, Oregon: Custom Light Pole Structural Design
- Location: Sisters, Oregon
- Partners: Sternberg Lighting; J.H. Baxter & Co.
- Year: Designed 2013–2014, installed 2014
- Size/scale: Two pole heights, 15 and 18 feet; 8¾-inch-square laminated Douglas fir poles with 6-foot arms carrying LED fixtures and banner arms
- JBE services: Structural analysis of the wood poles and design of their steel connections — the base sleeve and the cross-arm support
- Sector: Public, Civic & Education
The challenge
Sisters is a small tourist town with a rustic character, and it wanted LED street lights to match: square wood poles with steel connections instead of standard metal poles. Each pole carries an LED fixture on a 6-foot arm, plus banner arms, and has to stand up to 100 mph winds on exposed sites. The connections between wood and steel — at the base, where the pole meets its footing, and at the arm — are where that load is concentrated.
Project photos
What we did
We worked with Sternberg Lighting, who supplied the fixtures, and J.H. Baxter & Co., who made the laminated Douglas fir poles. We checked the poles and designed the steel connections. At the base, a powder-coated steel sleeve holds the bottom four feet of the pole and is set in concrete. At the top, a steel support carries the cross arm and fixture. We designed one set of connections for the worst case, so the same details work on both the 15-foot and 18-foot poles and on every banner layout. The foundations were designed by others.
The drawings went through several revisions with both companies between 2013 and 2014, as the fixture and pole details were finalised.
The result
Custom LED light poles whose industrial look — wood poles, steel connections — blends in with the rustic theme of the town. The project led to more pole and fixture work with both companies, including a value-engineered pole base for J.H. Baxter and fixture engineering for Sternberg in Roseburg. It’s a small project with a visible result, and a good example of light pole structural design in Sisters, Oregon done to suit its setting.
Related projects
Hayward Field – Finish Line Truss
Eugene: a ballasted, guyed anchorage for the finish line truss inside Hayward Field for the 2025 Eugene Marathon — no anchors into the ground.
Lane Events Center Roof Deck Repair
Eugene: during the Lane Events Center reroof, we assessed rust-damaged steel roof deck and designed in-kind replacement details that kept the project moving.
Northwest Christian University Fire Escape Retrofit
Eugene: assessment, retrofit design and Fire Marshal certification of decades-old steel fire escapes on a former Greek house converted for university use.
Oak Hill School
Eugene: a 5,259 sq ft wood-framed school building, with civil and structural design, built over the summer of 2013.
Related Projects
Lane Events Center Roof Deck Repair
Eugene: during the Lane Events Center reroof, we assessed rust-damaged steel roof deck and designed in-kind replacement details that kept the project moving.
Northwest Christian University Fire Escape Retrofit
Eugene: assessment, retrofit design and Fire Marshal certification of decades-old steel fire escapes on a former Greek house converted for university use.