(Smart Lighting Fixture Close-up)
Alderman Reilly is happy to announce that the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) has recently completed an upgrade to the streetlights along Grand Avenue, spanning nearly the entire width of the 42nd Ward, as part of the City’s Smart Lighting Modernization Program.
The new lights will produce a soft white light and consume 50-75 percent less electricity than traditional High Pressure Sodium (HPS) lights which produce orange light, generating significant electricity cost savings that will offset the cost of the modernization. LED fixtures also last two-to-three times longer than HPS lights. LED lights provide better nighttime visibility, and the LED light fixtures selected by the City are “full cut-off,” meaning they are designed to project light downward where it is needed on streets and sidewalks, not into the night sky or nearby properties.
The modernization program will replace over 270,000 of Chicago’s street, alley and viaduct lights with high-quality LED fixtures during its four-year timeframe. Chicago is also installing a citywide lighting management system for the new LED lights. When it becomes operational later this year, the system will alert the City when lights need service; however, residents are asked to continue calling 311 to report inoperative street lights.
The City expects to cut its streetlight electricity costs by more than half through the modernization, yielding savings of approximately $100 million over 10 years. In addition, through ComEd’s energy efficiency incentive efforts, the City will earn ComEd rebates that subsidize the cost of converting outdated HPS lights to LED technology. These rebates are projected to total $35 million.
To date, more than 42,000 new streetlight fixtures have been installed. Streetlight fixture replacements in the first year have been focused in South and West Side neighborhoods with heightened public safety concerns, providing more reliable lighting. By the end of this summer, the new lights will be installed on more than a dozen major arterial routes across the city. The scope of this program does not include ornamental fixtures or previously installed white light fixtures.
The program was procured by the Chicago Infrastructure Trust (CIT) in coordination with CDOT and the Department of Innovation and Technology (DOIT). The CIT is dedicated to assisting the City in executing large-scale and complex public projects efficiently and economically.
To learn more, click here to read the full press release. Chicagoans can also track the progress of the program at chicagosmartlighting.org.
Source: Reilly Reports 5/11/18
