Street & Pedestrian Lighting

As part of its economic redevelopment, Pittsfield, Mass. has enhanced the downtown with brick inlays along the sidewalks, trees, decorative benches, large planters, street art, signage and new lighting to replace the 250-watt high-pressure sodium cobra head luminaires. In their place are "Tear Drop' lighting fixtures that replicate the luminaires popular along U.S. boulevards during the first half of the 20th century.

The initial fixtures were 250-watt pulse-start metal halide lamps mounted on Holophane's period Columbia Series cast iron/steel 22 foot high poles with banner arms and waterproof receptacles.

Once the Holophane Tear Drop LED fixtures became available, the city began to install them on the 22-foot Columbia Series poles. The LEDs perform like their metal halide counterparts, but with a 47 percent reduction in wattage.

The city installed 57 single luminaires and 19 double fixtures; the double units went in the medians and a park near the boulevard. Fixtures are spaced 100 feet apart and mostly staggered. Pole foundations were installed to accommodate the city's existing underground infrastructure.

What kind of street and pedestrian lighting is being installed across the country these days? We know many cities are continuing to retrofit lighting to be more energy efficient. And, as you'll see in the feature, many locales are selecting to retrofit with LEDs to save energy and maintenance costs.

Other cites are opting for other proven modern technology, and selecting various high-intensity discharge (HID) lamp types.

And when it comes to the poles, bases and luminaires the cities are selecting, you'll see some prefer the styles of bygone days, street lighting that looks like it could be at home in the early 1900s, but is fabricated of light, modern materials and advanced lenses and reflectors. Still, other cities are going with more modern looking styles that definitely say, "We're looking to the future, not the past."

So, from Hercules, Calif., to Calgary, Ontario, from La Crosse, Wis., to Norfolk, Va., from the more obscure nooks and crannies of the country (Haily, Idaho, Founders Park, S.D., Pittsfield, Mass.), to the more familiar locales (Decatur, Ill., Omaha, Neb., Atlantic City), take a look at the changing face of city lighting and tell us what you think.

Unlike Tom Bodett's promise to Motel 6 patrons, we won't be leaving the light on for you "?u that's just not energy efficient, even if it is LED.

Grenald Waldron Associates approached Valmont Industries to select the appropriate light poles to complement the decorative street lighting assemblies at the Midtown Crossing in Omaha, Nebraska. The fixtures (Kim Lighting) for Midtown Crossing are flush-mounted, square full-cutoffs with 150-watt metal halide lamps and quad-mount brackets. The quad-pipe steel poles (W.J. Whatley, Inc., a Valmont company) have a Santa Fe decorative base and steel "Strada' luminaire arm assemblies.

At Rockefeller Gardens Park in Ormond Beach, Florida, 60-watt LED fixtures (King Luminaire - K56) were mounted on 11-ft. WJ Whatley "Xtreme' composite lamp posts and bases, adding a decorative touch to the pathways. The Ormond Beach City landscape architect is Paul McDonald.

General area lighting throughout the Calgary Riverwalk is 20 ft. 9-inch diameter "City Elements' columns (Hess) with 150-watt T6 ceramic metal halides, specified for their "warm color and excellent color rendering." Asymmetric housings and Type III reflectors were selected for all 44 columns on this phase. The lamps are equipped with RGB LEDs and drivers, with DMX control capability centrally located on the column, 9 feet above grade, to provide colored accenting and visual interest. The lower placement of these elements adds a human scale to the tall columns and welcomes patrons into the space. For day-to-day lighting, the LED accent modules are set to blue, but can be changed to different color schemes through preset programs created for special events. Some of the columns include internal GFCI outlets to provide power for events. Special acknowledgement goes to Optics Lighting in Calgary in support of the designers during the lighting specification.

Stantec's design collaboration for the RiverWalk master plan for the Calgary Riverwalk, a four-kilometer promenade in Calgary's East Village, was recognized with a National Award of Merit in the biennial Urban Design Awards sponsored by the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC), the Canadian Institute of Planners, and the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects. The "City Element' barrier bollards (Hess) with their color-changing RGB LEDs are installed throughout the Calgary Riverwalk to prevent unauthorized vehicular entry onto the pedestrian and bicycle paths. The bollards are synchronized to match the LED modules on the columns. Of the 49 bollards installed, 14 were also configured to include BS300 intermediate elements with pathway optics to provide low-level illumination in selected areas along the riverfront.

Founders Park, is a new hike and bike environment for Rapid City, South Dakota, dedicated on October 12, 2012. Prior to the renovation, there was just a small trail that led along a creek, and little to no lighting. The project included new and expanded pathways, a beautiful bridge, restroom designed by an architect, parking area, landscaping, way finding signage and new lighting.

The park is lit with Sternberg Lighting's 1970 Gallery series fixtures, using 150-watt metal halide lamping. These fixtures have tempered flat glass lenses for full cutoff and maximum protection of the night sky. The optics are IES type II distribution, and the powder coat finish is dark bronze. Sternberg also provided the poles, via its partnership with TimberWood. The Douglas Fir poles are 25' tall, and roughly 6" x 7" in diameter.

Project Team:
Landscape Architect: Designworks
Architect (restrooms): ARC International
Civil Engineer / Project Manager: CETEC Engineering Services, Rapid City
Electrical Designer: West Plains Engineering, Rapid City

Lakeside Park in St. Louis features ANP's 24-inch "Bella Vista' bell-shaped luminaires with segmented horizontal reflectors with custom laser designed animals. The decorative animal cutouts"?ubeaver, fox, eagle, stork and raccoon"?uwere chosen by the designer, SWT Design landscape architect Hunter Beckham, who wanted to reflect the native species of the area. ANP Lighting designed and laser cut the animal shapes and mounted them atop the luminaire support bar.

The luminaire lamps are 150-watt metal halides. ANP also provided the bolt-down 4-inch diameter, 23-feet tall steel poles, and the post arms.

At the St. Louis Zoo, 20-inch Bella Vista shade style luminaires with horizontal reflectors were fitted to customized WM320 wall-mounting brackets. The new lighting was fitted to the zoo's existing wood poles. The lamps are 150-watt metal halides. A lighting fixture and mount in one of the luminaires was customized to house a security camera. Landscape Architect: SWT Design, Ted Spaid, Designer

This car lot and pathway lighting in Park City, Utah opted for luminaires with 70-watt LEDs and a 5000K color temperature. The bell-shaped fixtures have cast aluminum dome housings and incorporate an Alzak reflector, producing type 3 cut-off optics. Alzak is a proprietary process licensed and trademarked by Alcoa for the surface treatment of aluminum to make it reflective.

This project was difficult to specify, explains Tom Hellen, Haily public works director/city engineer. "We have four lanes, plus a center turn lane, as our Main Street, and a dark sky ordinance. Our existing light poles place the bottom of the light at approximately 12 feet above the street. We had been looking to replace our lights to LED, prior to receiving an EPA grant that covered the cost of the retrofit."

"Prior to the installation, we were barely lighting up the first lane of traffic. With the new lights, we have pushed that into the two vehicle travel lanes. While we had hoped to include the turn lane in the overall lighting, we would need taller lamp posts to achieve this result, which is too expensive of an option."

Hellen reports the installation was easy: 32 light fixtures in three days. The retrofit went from 125-watts lamps to 40 watts, which will be a significant savings, despite the low electric rates in Idaho. The grant, based on reducing energy usage and carbon footprint, adds to the savings.

Interesting facts: Haily, Idaho (pop. 7,960) sits at an elevation of 5,318 feet. Ezra Pound was born in here (1885), and seven time Grand Slam winner Mats Wilander of Swedish tennis fame makes his home here.

A comprehensive restructuring of downtown Decatur, Ill. began in 2011, and will continue through 2014. New plans involve relocating the state highway route that bisects the downtown; reducing traffic lane widths; providing additional on-street parking; constructing new sidewalks with special paving; and new streetscape amenities.

One-hundred eighty-five 1960 Gallery series pedestrian lighting assemblies on Monrovia ornamental poles were installed. An additional 16 were mounted on extended pedestrian poles. The aluminum shades are flared and have custom light windows. Blue colored lenses for these windows are primarily used throughout the downtown, but the historic district has red lenses. The lamping is HID 70-watt metal halides. Landscape architecture by Massie Massie & Associates, Springfield, Illinois

Salt Lake City, always keen on retelling the city's founding tale and hardships of Brigham Young and his settlers in 1847, also chose the LG streetlamps for Trolley Square, the city's "premier destination for an incomparable shopping, dining and entertainment experience!"

Each of the 17 new large roadway light assemblies has a 4500K LED glow ring behind a blue lens mounted at the same height as the city's pedestrian light fixtures (above photo). Receptacles mounted inside the decorative bases and near the top of the poles provide power during special events and festivals. Sternberg provided everything on the Decatur lighting assemblies except the roadway cobra heads (250-watt high-pressure sodium lamping).

La Crosse, Wis. (51,230) is located on the western midsection of the state, but on the east side of the Mississippi River. Downtown Mainstreet, Inc. is the local nonprofit focused on the continuing revitalization of historic downtown La Crosse https://www.lacrossedowntown.com. The specified luminaires for the downtown are the Sun Valley Lighting's LG streetlamps, which evoke that turn-of-the-20th century look. The fixtures feature four, 50-watt, 12-inch globes mounted to four arms, plus a center 18-inch globe with 100-watt metal halide lamps. The arms are constructed from cast aluminum and have decorative scrolls. The black poles and bases are also aluminum. The pole shafts feature 16 evenly spaced vertical flutes extending the entire length of the shaft. The poles and bases combine for a 10-ft. height, plus an additional 4 feet in height for the arm mountings and luminaires. The width of adjoining arms is a yard across. Salt Lake City, always keen on retelling the city's founding tale and hardships of Brigham Young and his settlers in 1847, also chose the LG streetlamps for Trolley Square, the city's "premier destination for an incomparable shopping, dining and entertainment experience!"

U.S. Architectural Lighting's GLX fixture illuminates walkways and parking areas at Old Dominion College in Norfolk, Virginia, enhancing the nightscape and campus security. The fixture's contemporary design complements the architectural styling of the school's dormitories and student center. GLX features a cast aluminum housing with a decorative top. A hinged aluminum door encases the tempered clear flat lens. The lamps for the fixtures are 175-watt pulse start metal halides with a Type III (asymmetric) light distribution pattern for a wider beam spread. The 5-inch diameter pole is constructed from extruded alloy aluminum and has a polyester powder coat.