Street Lighting

Introduction:
 Perception requires greater time at low level of illumination.
 Good visibility is a prerequisite to good traffic operation.
 For night driving on roads, although all the motor vehicles have their own head light
which are quite sufficient, still adequate lighting on roads is essential for other road
users viz. non-motorized vehicles (cycles, rickshaws, carts etc. ), pedestrian –who have
not their own lights .
 A large proportion of the road accidents are caused in the night and one of the main
reason is the insufficient lighting.
 In the absence of street light, drivers are forced to use dip-beam of head-lights- which
causes glaring problem and often lead to severe accidents.
Objectives / Possible Benefits
Adequate street lighting –
 Enable road users to see clearly the roadway
 Make drivers confident in their maneuver
 Encourage use of full roadway width
 Reduces use of dip-beam
 Reduces night time crime
 Iproves personal security
 Promotes business

Key Location: Where Needed Adequate Street Lighting

Following location/objects need more lights than that of straight roads:-

• Where there are high proportions of

pedestrians, cyclists or other poorly lit road
• Users including animals
• Intersections where other vehicular and
pedestrian flow is high
• Sharp bend, summit curves, tunnels, pedestrian,
crossing areas, bridge sites, level crossings,
other bottlenecks/places where there are
restraints on traffic movements etc
• Hazardous objects like road humps, channelizing
islands etc

Md. Aminul Islam

Lecturer, Dept. of CEE, SUST
Arrangement/ Layout of Street Lighting

• Single side: An arrangement in which lanterns are placed on one side only of the
carriageway
• Both sides:
♦ Staggered: An arrangement in which lanterns are placed alternately on
either side of the carriageway.
♦ Opposite: Arrangement in which lanterns are placed on either side of the
carriageway opposite to one another.
• Central: An arrangement in which lanterns are placed in an axial line close to the
center of the carriageway
♦ One head or arm
♦ Two heads/double arms

Types of Light Sources/Lamps

• Tungsten light/incandescent filament

• Tubular fluorescent
• Sodium lighting (low pressure vapor)
• Mercury lighting (vapor)

Installation Requirements

To get uniform lit road surface, the following issues should be considered carefully:

• Mounting height: The vertical distance between the centre of the lantern and the
carriageway. The general practice is to have mountings of 7.5-12m for traffic routes and
3-8 m for other streets.
• Spacing: The distance measured parallel to the centre line of the carriageway between
successive lanterns being on same or opposite side of the carriageway. In general the
spacing should not exceed 55m and should preferably be 35-45m on important traffic
routes. As a rough guide, the spacing should be between 3 and 5 times of the mounting
height.
• Overhang: The distance measured horizontally between the centre of a lantern
mounted on a bracket and the adjacent edge of a carriageway.
• Outreach: The distance measured horizontally between the centre of a lantern mounted
on a bracket and centre of the column or wall face.
• Luminous intensity brightness: This may be defined as light giving power of a lamp in
any given direction. The unit of luminous intensity is candela.

Md. Aminul Islam

Lecturer, Dept. of CEE, SUST
 • Luminous flux: This is the light given by a light source or received by a surface
irrespective of the direction in which it is distributed. The unit of luminous flux is lumen.
• Lantern: A house for one or more lamps, comprising a body and any refractor, diffuser
or enclosure associated with the lamp.

Design of street lighting:

Design means fixing spacing and arrangement of lighting post.

a) Determination of spacing:
Total effective illumination
𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴, 𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝 𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢 =
Total area to be illuminate

= (𝐿𝐿 ∗ 𝐶𝐶𝑢𝑢 )/(𝑆𝑆 ∗ 𝑊𝑊)

Where,

L = Lumen output of light source (strength of source)

𝐶𝐶𝑢𝑢 = Co-efficient of utilization (i.e. efficient lumen of light on the pavement, which depends on
the ratio of road width and mounting height)
S = spacing light post
W = width of pavement
Procedure to find different design parameter:

• Actual average illumination = required illumination * pavement reflection factor

• Use table 1 & 2 to find out actual average illumination for
1. Average illumination requirement and
2. Pavement reflection
• L (for particular source) = efficiency * total wattage
• Use table 3 to calculate lumen output, L for
1. Type of source (fluorescent, sodium, mercury etc.)
2. Wattage of source
3. Its lighting efficiency in lumen/watt
• Actual utilization factor, Cu = utilization factor * maintenance factor
• Use figure- 1 to find out effective utilization factor, Cu for
1. Road width/post height ratio and
2. Maintenance factor
b) Arrangement /layout of street lighting :
Md. Aminul Islam
Lecturer, Dept. of CEE, SUST
 Use table 4 to select lighting layout.

Problem:

An urban secondary road, with 50ft pavement width having a reflectance 10% carries a
maximum 1000 vph at night time in both direction. Design lighting system of the road
considering sodium light source with mounting height of 40ft and a maintenance factor of 0.8.
Draw the lighting layout.

Solution:

1) Actual average Illumination ( AAI ):

From table- 1: average recommended illumination = 0.8 L/ft2

From table- 2: adjustment factor for surface = 1

Therefore, AAI = 0.8*1 = 0.8

2) Lumen Output of Light Source:

Taking Efficiency of light = 100 lumens/watt

Wattage = 150 watts
Lumen Output = Source Efficiency*wattage = 100*150 = 15000 Lumen
From Figure 1, for ratio = width/height = 50/40 = 1.25, Cu= 0.35
Effective Cu = 0.35*maintenance factor = 0.35*0.8= 0.28

As we know, AAI = (Lumen Output*Cu) / (Spacing*width of pavement)

Therefore, Spacing = (15000*0.28) / (0.8*50) = 105ft

Proposed Lighting Layout:

Considering the width of pavement, (see table-4) it is proposed that the lighting posts
would be places on both sides of the road in staggered arrangement with post.

Spacing = 105ft
Mounting height = 40ft
Overhang = 10ft

Md. Aminul Islam

Lecturer, Dept. of CEE, SUST
Table 4: RECOMMENDED ARRANGEMENT OF STREET LIGHTING

Type of Arrangement Pavement Width

One side Width 30ft

Both sides Staggered 30ft Width 60ft

Both sides Opposite Width 60 ft

TABLE 1: RECOMMENDED AVERAGE IILUMINATION (LUMENS/FT2)

Vehicular Traffic (vph)

Pedestrian
Traffic Very Light Light Medium Heavy
(<150 vph) (150-500 vph) (500-1200 vph) ( >1200 vph)

Heavy - 0.8 1.0 1.2

Medium - 0.6 0.8 1.0

Light 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8

TABLE 2: ADJUSTMENT FACTORS FOR RECOMMENDED AVERAGE ILLUMINATION VALUES

Surface Reflectance Adjustment Factor

Less than 10% 1.5

Equal to 10% 1.0

Greater than 10% 0.75

Md. Aminul Islam

Lecturer, Dept. of CEE, SUST
FIGURE 1: COUFFICIENT OF UTILIZATION CURVES (FOR LIGHT DISTRIBUTION TYPEIII)

Note: Due to poor maintenance, the actual co-efficient of utilization is reduced by a factor
usually 0.8 (i.e. taken as 8)
TABLE 3: LIGHTING SOURCE CHARACTERISTICS

Source Type Expected Life Lighting Efficiency Wattage

(hrs) (Lumens/Watt) (Watt)

Tungsten 1000 8-14 Up to 1000

Fluorescent 6000 50-75 Up to 250

Sodium 6000 100-120 Up to 160

Mercury 7500 20-60 Up to 400

Md. Aminul Islam

Lecturer, Dept. of CEE, SUST