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Kenilworth Ave Freeway Street Lamps

Started by jcn, August 11, 2015, 01:39:47 PM

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jcn

Back in the late 90's, I had family friends that used to live in Washington DC, and when we would go down to visit them, we would drive on the Kenilworth Ave Freeway.  The streetlights along the median of the freeway were some of the most unsual streetlights ever.  The street lights had two different type of lights actually, the typical cobrahead, and a unique cobrahead where the light sticks out with a ball shaped glass cover, same cobrahead poles and arms though. Those two types of lights were mixed together and there were even some double mounted cobraheads with one typical light on one side and one ball shaped light on the other if I recall.  Also, I believe I recall noticing that it wasn't just double mounted cobraheads in the median, there were also some single mounted cobraheads in the median, and for some reason, I seem to recall that all the single mounted cobraheads were over southbound.  I wonder if they thought southbound needed more light or something.  Also, both types of lights lit up in a purplish color as opposed to the typical orange color back in the day.  Does anyone else remember those unique lights on Kenilworth?  I don't think they're there anymore.


jcn

As a little update, I just found out that those street lamps definitely aren't there anymore.  They replaced them when they renovated the corridor.

Mapmikey

So you do not mean the two kinds of streetlights visible in this GMSV...?

https://goo.gl/maps/Q4iGkHtcyNN2


jcn

Quote from: Mapmikey on May 10, 2016, 06:50:19 AM
So you do not mean the two kinds of streetlights visible in this GMSV...?

https://goo.gl/maps/Q4iGkHtcyNN2



In regards to the streetlight farther away from the camera, it's one of the new street lamps that was installed as part of the renovation project.  The one closer to the camera, is an older street lamp.  If you put your street view back to 2007, it was before the renovation, and therefore, you'll get to see what the old streetlights looked liked.

cpzilliacus

Quote from: jcn on May 10, 2016, 01:39:43 PM
In regards to the streetlight farther away from the camera, it's one of the new street lamps that was installed as part of the renovation project.  The one closer to the camera, is an older street lamp.  If you put your street view back to 2007, it was before the renovation, and therefore, you'll get to see what the old streetlights looked liked.

The new ones are awful, and have no place on an expressway-type road like D.C. 295. 

By awful I do not mean appearance (though they are ugly), but the amount of light pollution they throw off is not good.

The classic D.C. streetlights on the grey poles with slightly angled arms are much more appropriate for D.C.
Opinions expressed here on AAROADS are strictly personal and mine alone, and do not reflect policies or positions of MWCOG, NCRTPB or their member federal, state, county and municipal governments or any other agency.

jcn

Quote from: cpzilliacus on May 10, 2016, 04:03:17 PM
Quote from: jcn on May 10, 2016, 01:39:43 PM
In regards to the streetlight farther away from the camera, it's one of the new street lamps that was installed as part of the renovation project.  The one closer to the camera, is an older street lamp.  If you put your street view back to 2007, it was before the renovation, and therefore, you'll get to see what the old streetlights looked liked.

The new ones are awful, and have no place on an expressway-type road like D.C. 295. 

By awful I do not mean appearance (though they are ugly), but the amount of light pollution they throw off is not good.

The classic D.C. streetlights on the grey poles with slightly angled arms are much more appropriate for D.C.

I didn't think the old ones were awful.  It's just that did you notice in the street view how two different glass covers were seen on the old street lamps back when they were there.  I considered that unusual.

Henry

I've seen both the old and new views, and I agree that the new lights are terrible, compared to the older ones. I know the new ones are high-pressure sodium, but weren't the old ones also converted to HPS, or were they always mercury vapor?
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cpzilliacus

Quote from: Henry on May 20, 2016, 12:41:38 PM
I've seen both the old and new views, and I agree that the new lights are terrible, compared to the older ones. I know the new ones are high-pressure sodium, but weren't the old ones also converted to HPS, or were they always mercury vapor?

Most poles of that style originally had mercury vapor luminaires that were converted to HPS.  Not sure that there are any mercury vapor lights left on public streets and highways in the District of Columbia. Might be a few on the NPS-maintained parkways, but that's about it.
Opinions expressed here on AAROADS are strictly personal and mine alone, and do not reflect policies or positions of MWCOG, NCRTPB or their member federal, state, county and municipal governments or any other agency.

jcn

#8
Oh, so I guess in the 90's, some were converted from mercury vapor to HPS, while others haven't been converted yet.  That explains why there were two different types.

To be more specific, I was talking about how the street lamps had two different types of refractors.



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