With the help of federal stimulus dollars, Seattle City Council has approved City Light’s new initiative in replacing the standard orange-glow, High-Pressure Sodium (HPS) streetlamps to LEDs. The first phase will replace 5,000 existing HPS lamps, eventually swapping out all 80,000 streetlamps city-wide, over a four year period.
Currently, there are pilot programs in Capitol Hill and South Park, in which City Light is testing light quality and brightness. They’re also garnering feedback from each neighborhood which they will convey back to the manufacturer to produce a standardized light.
In an e-mail to me, City Light Spokesperson Suzanne Hartman explained,
“We will be installing 5,000 LED lights this year distributed/split between the following areas: University District, Eastlake, South Ballard, Fremont, and Green Lake. Not all lamps in these areas will be replaced with LEDs – we just don’t have the budget this year. Although Wallingford isn’t on the list for this year, our goal is to re-lamp all of Seattle with the new LEDs in the next four years.”
LEDs have twice the life expectancy (12-15 years over 4-6 years for HPS), which will also serve to mitigate City Light’s need to respond to the current 50-100 lamp outages each day.
Well, I’m kind of bummed Wallingford doesn’t get the spiffy new LEDs this year; but I sort of understand because I live on one of the busier streets in the neighborhood and I can honestly say I’ve never really seen ongoing problems with streetlamps burning out–and staying out–for long periods of time, so maybe we aren’t high priority. We’d like to hear from you, though. Are there any problematic “dark spots” in the neighborhood?
What are the other advantages besides being longer lasting?
Does anyone have any personal experience with these LED street lights? I’ve read articles in the recent past that some communities didn’t like them because the light is so bright that it makes it hard to see the sky. Personally, I like muted lights at night so it doesn’t feel like you’re living in/walking in the middle of sports stadium lighting.
Are there any problematic “dark spots” in the neighborhood?
42nd, between Eastern & Sunnyside
Hi –
A couple of things to note – LEDs provide a brighter, clearer light. For some, they like the brightness – particularly in commercial areas and main arterials. Others, on residential streets, may be concerned about how bright the light is. We are testing several types of lights in South Park and Capitol Hill, as noted. Based on the feedback we get, we will work with the manufacturers to reach a solution that will work in a variety of locations.
If you do have a streetlight that is out, please let us know. We are turning around “standard” streetlight repairs in 10 days. If there is a more complicated problem, we will let you know how long it will take to fix it. Click on this link to find out how to report a burned out or malfunctioning streetlight:
http://www.seattle.gov/light/streetlight/
Thank you!
Suzanne Hartman
Director of Communications
Seattle City Light
I noticed the change on Capitol Hill immediately, and (as a driver) loved it! They make colors far less muted than the mercury vapor lights, so pedestrians and cyclists are far more visible, and from further away. In a commercial district, I don’t think the brightness is as noticeable, but the light quality is far better.
I don’t know how thrilled I’d be to have them in a residential neighborhood, though.
Hi Susan,
If some of us on a particular street wanted to fund our own lights instead of using federal $’s would you be in a position to support that?
Regards,
ConserveSeattle
The damn streetlight outside our house floodlights our bedroom. I wish it would go out and stay out. It also tends to go out temporarily when cars coming up the hill flash it with their headlights.
The new LEDs (on capitol hill) SUCK! They are so bright and hurt my eyes. Its like all the new cars coming out with the led lights that are so bright they blind you. These aren’t much different. They are hard to drown out and the people living next to them have filed multiple complaints. There was a discussion on MyBallard about them and EVERYONE hated them there as well.
Drive though one of these neighborhoods before you jump to conclusions that just because there green doesn’t mean there better.
Fnarf: our light was doing the same thing several years ago and we were told it’s a very common problem, the lights blink due to a faulty filter that can be fixed easily if the utility knows about it. Report it at http://www.seattle.gov/light/streetlight/ (you’ll need the utility pole number) and it will go in the queue for repair.