Conversion to LED Streetlights Is Complete for Pilot Project

Jayne Kirkpatrick, Director, Public Affairs
Prepared by: John Boyette, Public Affairs Specialist

For more information: Dan Howe, Assistant City Manager, City of Raleigh,
919-996-3070; or Jeff Brooks, Media Relations Specialist, Progress Energy Carolinas,
800-559-3853

July 20, 2012

Conversion to LED Streetlights Is Complete for Pilot Project

The City of Raleigh and Progress Energy Carolinas have completed replacing some traditional streetlights in the Capital City with light emitting diodes (LED) fixtures as part of a pilot project. The pilot project will explore how much money and electricity could be saved from converting all of Raleigh’s streetlights to LEDs and whether LEDs provide a superior quality of street lighting.

This week, crews from Progress Energy Carolinas finished installing the last set of LED fixtures along Thorpshire Drive, Carrington Drive and Lindenshire Road in the Thorpshire Farm subdivision. The subdivision is one of five areas of Raleigh selected for the LED streetlight pilot project. The other pilot areas are:

• Gorman Street from Faucette Drive to Sullivan Street;
• Glascock Street from Wake Forest Road to Brookside Drive;
• Sunnybrook Road from New Bern Avenue to Falstaff Road; and,
• A section of South Blount Street just south of Downtown in the area of City Farm Road near Cargill Inc.

Residents and business operators in the pilot areas have been notified of the conversion to LED streetlights. To help evaluate the LED streetlights, the City of Raleigh will seek input from these residents and business operators approximately three months after the new fixtures have been installed. Comments from other members of the general public also are welcome.

The new LED light fixtures are mounted on the same poles as the previous streetlight fixtures. No additional streetlights are being added in the pilot areas.

LED streetlights are currently being used in some areas of Downtown Raleigh and along Hillsborough Street from Oberlin Road to Gardner Street. These fixtures have thus far performed well and cast an improved light compared to the high-pressure sodium fixtures they replaced.

For more information about LED streetlights in Raleigh, including the pilot project, contact Dustin Brice, senior transportation analyst with the City of Raleigh Public Works Department, at 919-996-4045 or dustin.brice@raleighnc.gov.