LED Lighting on freeways...

[Mark68]

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).

[txstateends]

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.

[UCFKnights]

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.

[lordsutch]

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.

[PurdueBill]

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.

[ChiMilNet]

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).

[jOnstar1979]

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.

[SSOWorld]

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.

[mgk920]

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

[Big John]

^^ Also the I-43 bridge in Green Bay was switched when it was closed for repairs in 2013.

[Roadwarriors79]

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.