I was out on I-70 in Western Colorado the other night, and noticed that very recently C-DOT has been on a roll replacing sodium-vapor lamps with white LED lighting in existing cobra head light fixtures.
Granted the overhead lights are only installed around exit ramps (not continuously like in urban areas), but I was surprised that nearly all C-DOT maintained lights on not only I-70, but on some of the older overheads along BL-70 around Grand Junction as well, are now LED converted fixtures.
Are there any other larger-scale overhead LED freeway lighting projects that have been completed as of late in your neck of the woods?
BTW, I like the "cooler" look of the new LEDs over the sodium vapors. I remember when ODOT was replacing the mercury-vapors with the then-trendy sodiums on all the freeways in Ohio back in the early 80s and hated the "warmer" glow of the sodiums.
On a recent roadtrip, I noticed in I think it was one of the Carolinas they had some LED lighting on the freeways. They replaced the entire poles and heads, but it seemed to be very few and scattered with no organized. I only saw a few of them, so its possible they decided to buy LEDs as replacement to broken/damaged fixtures. Looked funny with only 1 LED and a bunch of sodium lights down a line.
Would be interesting to see someone make a BGS with LEDs like button copy.
NYSTA replaced lamps on I-190 in Buffalo between MM 0.0 and 2.2 (https://www.google.com/maps/@42.8680247,-78.826267,3a,75y,53.64h,107.72t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1ssw1cCdV1coFaEeJasEmAgQ!2e0) with LED fixtures. Formerly, all south of Grand Island were this type of sodium fixture (https://www.google.com/maps/@42.8679641,-78.826912,3a,75y,309.18h,98.56t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1srikV9hbiLL3u401M6xNQIA!2e0).
Slightly off topic, but I-190 (both at the extreme southern end and in Tonawanda) is one of the only two expressways in Region 5 outside of the City of Buffalo to feature non-bridge lighting of any sort (other is NY 33 west of I-90).
Quote from: SteveG1988 on December 27, 2014, 09:49:04 PM
Would be interesting to see someone make a BGS with LEDs like button copy.
It'd be an interesting way to blind passing motorists, at least.
Quote from: thenetwork on December 27, 2014, 06:42:57 PM
I was out on I-70 in Western Colorado the other night, and noticed that very recently C-DOT has been on a roll replacing sodium-vapor lamps with white LED lighting in existing cobra head light fixtures.
I noticed some of those when I drove that part of I-70 in September (first time I have driven that part of I-70, so I have no basis of comparison).
Maryland has been installing LEDs in places on its Interstate network, though some appear to be inoperable after installation (though I do not know if that is due to underground cable faults or something else).
With the I-80 design build project in Reno-Sparks, NV a few years ago, NDOT replaced all of the cobra head light fixtures along the ramps (and a short stretch of the freeway in Sparks that has continuous lighting) with LED fixtures. This project removed a bunch of lighting from overhead BGSs, but the few lighted signs that remain now have LED light fixtures.
Additionally, NDOT has replaced the vast majority of the street lighting fixtures on I-80 ramps statewide. I think they have also replaced most if not all fixtures on the freeway portions of US 395.
Interestingly, there's not many (if any) LED lights along freeways in southern Nevada.
Lots in Ontario, especially within MTO's West Region. Lots of conventional lighting retrofitting, and new installations of that. Some minimal amount of high mast lighting being done LED. AsphaltPlanet was mentioning to me the other day about a large installation of it on Hwy 417 in Ottawa that was recently installed.
There is some moderate intention to upgrade to LED across the board, but there isn't really a timeline on that.
NJ Tpk has them on the newly rebuilt section.
Most of the interchanges on I-95 in Maryland has LED lights now, and the Fort McHenry tunnel is currently replacing its fluorescent lights with LED's. Also, new LED high masts are being put up at the I-95/295/495 interchange in Delaware.
UDOT has done the same with several sections of high-mast lighting on I-15 through Salt Lake City, and many cobra head lights have also been similarly replaced.
Quote from: SteveG1988 on December 27, 2014, 09:49:04 PM
Would be interesting to see someone make a BGS with LEDs like button copy.
Like the OPEN and CLOSED indicators at weigh stations ?
I know this for a fact that ALMOST all of the Illinois Tollway's lights are now LEDs... Drive on Interstate 90 and you will be surprised that the LEDs goes from Chicago to Rockford... Only a couple sections of the Illinois Tollway (i.e. I-294 between 95th Street and Balmoral Avenue- they will get the LEDs when they start redoing that section of the toll road) haven't changed the lights out yet...
WisDOT has been actively replacing the HPSes with 5000K LEDs at the surface street intersections that they control here in the Appleton, WI area.
I'm not a fan of 5000K color temp lamps, I consider them to be too harsh. I do like the 2500-3000K lamps that have been done in scattered places elsewhere, though.
Mike
WVDOH has been using LEDs on new installations for about 3 years, including cobra heads, high masts, and sign lighting. A lot of existing high mast lighting has been converted, along with isolated intersections and interchanges being changed over.
Quote from: roadfro on December 29, 2014, 08:23:03 PM
With the I-80 design build project in Reno-Sparks, NV a few years ago, NDOT replaced all of the cobra head light fixtures along the ramps (and a short stretch of the freeway in Sparks that has continuous lighting) with LED fixtures. This project removed a bunch of lighting from overhead BGSs, but the few lighted signs that remain now have LED light fixtures.
Additionally, NDOT has replaced the vast majority of the street lighting fixtures on I-80 ramps statewide. I think they have also replaced most if not all fixtures on the freeway portions of US 395.
Interestingly, there's not many (if any) LED lights along freeways in southern Nevada.
Since the thread was bumped, I'll update my previous reply.
The Las Vegas area now has some LED freeway lighting. The main examples are high mast lighting along some some sections of the northern 215 beltway recently upgraded to freeway status. Also, NDOT has used LED high mast lighting at the US 95/215 Centennial Bowl interchange and on US 95 near that interchange.
Minnesota has steadily moved toward more LED lighting. More notable examples are on the rebuilt section of I-494 between MN 55 and 94/694 in Plymouth/Maple Grove and on I-35 traversing Thompson Hill in Duluth.
NYSDOT region 10 recently had meetings and doing studies into converting to LED lighting on our highways. No word of if or when the decision will be made. Most likely any delay will be due to funding. As far I can tell, the only LED lighting on state maintained roads in R10 are town maintained lights.
ISTHA has been converting their tollways over to LEDs. IDOT has been much slower, if they're even switching them out at all. The only IDOT LEDs I've seen are on streets where the municipality maintains the lights, or where they have an interchange with a tollway that's been converted (makes for a strange comparison at night).
NJDOT hasn't really changed to LEDs - even new light masts are using whatever NJDOT historically has used. In the Trenton Tunnel (Rt. 29) they did install some LEDs in there.
The NJ Turnpike authority is using LEDs on new installs.
The DRBA recently converted their bridge lighting to LEDs. The intensity is set to "Blinding".
Quote from: Brandon on January 26, 2018, 12:46:14 PM
ISTHA has been converting their tollways over to LEDs. IDOT has been much slower, if they're even switching them out at all. The only IDOT LEDs I've seen are on streets where the municipality maintains the lights, or where they have an interchange with a tollway that's been converted (makes for a strange comparison at night).
City of Carbondale has installed LED streetlights on US 51 North/Illinois Ave in Downtown Carbondale, but pretty sure those fixtures were installed and are maintained by Carbondale, not IDOT
As one of the last things they did with the I-279 (Parkway North) southbound construction project last year was replace the lights with LED's.
Construction is on the northbound side this year, so I'm guessing they'll replace them at the end of this year.
It does look somewhat mismatched having half the highway with the yellow-orange-ish hue, vs. the bright white of the LEDs.
When the conversion is made from HPS to LED lighting on the highways, do the fixtures have the same lumen output and distribution pattern? The local streets around here certainly are dimmer after the conversions are made.
Arizona has some LED lighting in the Phoenix area. The Loop 303 stub south of I-10, I-10 at the I-17 stack, I-10 in the construction zone for the future Loop 202 connection, and a few miles of Loop 101 that was recently widened.
The I-4 Ultimate in Orlando is installing them, plus the new FL 528 express lane widening is installing ground poles with them and taking down the high mast lighting there from 1990 which replaced the original 1973 Mercury lights.
New street lights on John Young Parkway in both Orlando City and Orange County are with LED lights and so are the new lights on Wetherbee Road in Southchase in Orange County all LEDs. Though not freeways, but are part of the encouragement of their implementation.
Also to note that many businesses are changing their parking lot lamps from sodium vapor to LED especially gas stations around Florida.
It looks like many new installations in Denver Metro (both on and off interstates/freeways) are getting LED treatment. We see it on some stretches of C-470 and E-470. All traffic signals in Parker have overhead dual LEDs (which the Town probably thinks makes up for lack of actual street lights).
In north TX, it looks like the last year or so has been a turn-the-corner time for using LEDs as new/replacements instead of the orange lights. There is a looooonngg way to go before the orange ones are all gone.
The longest stretch of high-mast/shorter-height/ramps-and-etc LEDs has to be in Arlington on TX 360 between I-30 and I-20.
Otherwise, the replacement (or install with new) has been spotty and a bit slow. In many areas, there are groups of freeway lights out -- some are in construction zones, many more are not. I'm wondering if it's a cheapie/$$-saving thing or TxDOT and cities involved are just waiting for more $$$ to come along so they can be replaced with LEDs.
Most of the LEDs I'm seeing don't have near the light-scatter effect that the orange lights have had. Initially, when I first started seeing LED street lights, I didn't care for the coloring and they seemed a bit dim. Now I guess they've refined them to what I've been seeing lately.
Quote from: roadman65 on January 27, 2018, 08:08:16 PM
The I-4 Ultimate in Orlando is installing them, plus the new FL 528 express lane widening is installing ground poles with them and taking down the high mast lighting there from 1990 which replaced the original 1973 Mercury lights.
New street lights on John Young Parkway in both Orlando City and Orange County are with LED lights and so are the new lights on Wetherbee Road in Southchase in Orange County all LEDs. Though not freeways, but are part of the encouragement of their implementation.
Also to note that many businesses are changing their parking lot lamps from sodium vapor to LED especially gas stations around Florida.
The last couple years all the new FDOT maintained installs have been LED, they're in various areas of I-95 as well. My local roads are maintained by the electric company, and they aren't doing LED at this point, I hate the yellow lights and can't wait for them to start doing it.
GDOT seems to have swapped out some but not all of the cobra head installations around here; notably I-75 through Macon up to I-16 is all LEDs now, which seems to be a big improvement in terms of consistency of lighting. And of course all of the I-75 south express lane lighting in Henry County was initially installed as LEDs.
The first LED lights that I personally saw in Ohio were installed on US 30 near Delphos at the OH 309 and Fifth St. interchanges quite a few years ago. They lasted no more than a year and were replaced with sodium. Maybe they were not reliable, were a test only, or who knows. Since then, ODOT has been using LED more; there are many rest areas with LED at the exit ramps and even high mast LED lighting (e.g., I-71 and US 250). Sodium is still installed as well to match existing lighting in one-offs (like the recent replacement of a long-missing high mast assembly at I-76 and 77's western split) and some replacements in renovations (like all-new poles and luminaries on the Kenmore Leg in Akron within the last 2 years with traditional poles and cobraheads in order to use the existing infrastructure of the concrete median railing; the one-piece ODOT sodium fixtures common on early-to-mid-2000s new installs would need to be more closely spaced, requiring redoing the wall too).
The high-mast LED stuff at 71 and 250 definitely gives a different appearance at night than you are used to seeing. They are quite bright and flood the whole area with light pretty well.
Quote from: Brandon on January 26, 2018, 12:46:14 PM
ISTHA has been converting their tollways over to LEDs. IDOT has been much slower, if they're even switching them out at all. The only IDOT LEDs I've seen are on streets where the municipality maintains the lights, or where they have an interchange with a tollway that's been converted (makes for a strange comparison at night).
Agreed that IDOT has been slow, at best, to embrace LED lighting. A good example of this contrast between the ISTHA and IDOT can be seen at the I-290/IL-390 interchange. City of Chicago has a large scale project underway to replace all street lighting with LED lighting. Other municipalities around Chicago are starting to do it one by one. I know Schaumburg recently completed a project that virtually replaced all lights with LED. Interestingly, IDOT is even doing it on a section of the EB Kennedy that is being expanded near O'Hare, though that makes for quite the contrast with the WB lanes (not to mention the style of light pole is entirely different also now each way).
I have to say that Michigan (Detroit & and the Metro area) has been pretty good at converting to LED over the past 5 years. The first I noticed is when M-39 (Southfield Freeway) went through a major rebuild some time ago. Sometimes I use that route for work as a traffic alternative to I-94 heading for the airport. I have to admit that it was a little hard on the eyes to get used to at first... but they look and work great. There is still a few areas to get up to LED speed... but almost all the major freeways in Detroit have large sections that have already been converted including all of I-696.
One thing I would like to see in Michigan is freeway lighting on some of the rural areas on the on & off ramps. I'm sure the expense wouldn't really justify it, but it sure would be nice and much more safe. Indiana & Kentucky have been pretty good about that on I-75 & I-69 north of Indy. Ohio is good to light rural areas with major crossings (Example - US-23/30 splits). I wouldn't hold my breath on Michigan doing just that as it has seemed like we were one of the last states just to get the logo service signs.
sections recently rebuilt in Wisconsin have gotten the LED treatment: Verona/Beltline in Madison, Yahara River viaduct (Monona put that in), The Zoo and Marquette interchanges in Milwaukee, much of HWY-41 in Green Bay. Many cities are slowly installing LED lights either en-masse or when needed.
IowaDOT did an en-masse replace of lights in NE Iowa (US-61 is now all LED between Dubuque and the Quads and US 20 got the treatment in Dubuque. Also several Iowa cities have done the mass replacement.
Quote from: SSOWorld on July 29, 2018, 08:00:11 PM
sections recently rebuilt in Wisconsin have gotten the LED treatment: Verona/Beltline in Madison, Yahara River viaduct (Monona put that in), The Zoo and Marquette interchanges in Milwaukee, much of HWY-41 in Green Bay. Many cities are slowly installing LED lights either en-masse or when needed.
IowaDOT did an en-masse replace of lights in NE Iowa (US-61 is now all LED between Dubuque and the Quads and US 20 got the treatment in Dubuque. Also several Iowa cities have done the mass replacement.
All of the rebuilt I-41/US 10/WI 441 Bridgeview Interchange here in the Appleton area uses white LEDs, including US 10/WI 441 to the east. Also, WisDOT recently changed all of the lighting on the I-41 Oshkosh causeway northward through the US 45 Algoma Interchange from HP Sodium to white LEDs.
Mike
^^ Also the I-43 bridge in Green Bay was switched when it was closed for repairs in 2013.
There is LED lighting on exit ramps off I-95 in Maine. Don’t remember how much of Maine has been changed over, but definitely some exits near Bangor and Houlton.