Drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists in Shoreline have safer roads at night, now that Seattle City Light has completed the conversion of streetlights on arterial roads to energy efficient LED technology.
City Light’s contractor, Potelco, replaced 721 cobra head light fixtures on Shoreline’s arterial streets. The work was completed Jan. 24. Switching to LEDs (light emitting diodes) cuts the amount of energy used and lowers maintenance costs considerably, which will mean significant savings for the city.
This is a street with the old high-presure sodium streetlights.
LEDs improve street visibility with better light quality that enhances depth of field and peripheral vision without distorting color. More information about LED streetlights can be found on our website.
And here’s that same street after its streetlights were converted to LEDs.
Arterial streetlight conversions to LED fixtures began in 2013. Crews are currently working on streetlights between Denny Way and 65th Street. Recent completed projects include the West Seattle Bridge, the White Center Business District and the Cascade Neighborhood. Seattle City Light plans to convert all 34,400 arterial streetlights in its service territory to LED lights in the next several years, increasing nighttime visibility and saving on maintenance and replacement costs. The cost savings for arterial streetlight conversion are estimated to be just over $3.5 million per year once all arterial streetlights are converted to LEDs.
City Light also finished the conversion of all 41,000 residential streetlights in its service area to LEDs this past fall, a year ahead of schedule. The cost savings are estimated at $2.4 million annually. Get more information here.
To report a malfunctioning streetlight or a streetlight that is out, call us at (206) 684-7056. After normal business hours, call (206) 684-7400. You can also report streetlight malfunctions by going to our website at http://www.seattle.gov/light/streetlight.
John Maynard says
My fear is those LED lights will come to my street. Crestmont Pl W in Magnolia. Way too bright for a residential area diminishing general well being. The spectrum is blue/white and stark and cold. Fine for a soccer field or prison yard and the West Seattle bridge, but intrusive and invasive for a residential area. Are there plans for changing the lights in my neighborhood. I’d like to know and take measures to prevent that. btw I mentioned this could be problem in a community meeting of about 150 last week and had great support from those with the same fear. Would you please respond with what city light has planned for my neighborhood. Would greatly appreciate that, and thanks for your time. Regards, John Maynard
thomses says
John,
The lights in your neighborhood are a decorative design that will eventually be replaced with an equivalent LED version after we finalize specifications. That conversion would take place sometime after 2017 as we are currently focused on upgrading the lights along arterial roadways. The LEDs we are installing have a color temperature that is comparable to moonlight. It was picked based on customer preferences after testing a variety color temperatures in Capitol Hill, West Seattle, South Park and Georgetown. Additionally, decorative fixtures like those in your neighborhood have a significantly lower wattage than those along arterial roads.
The change in color from the amber glow of high pressure sodium lights is immediately noticeable. Most people find that they adjust over a few weeks and no longer notice the lights.
The LEDs provide better visibility and better color representation while using significantly less electricity and lasting more than three times longer than the high pressure sodium lights they are replacing. The lights are already saving the cities in our service territory more than $1.2 million per year. What we’re delivering is better lighting, better reliability and lower operating costs.