The new white LED streetlights

[V]

They're streetlights, not sidewalk lights!!

[The Familia]

I really like the new lights. The color is much more pleasant, not to mention they look more modern and crisp. I do have a huge complaint. Can the city finally remove all the old brown streetlight/intersection light poles that look like they have been rusting for centuries? In addition, how about making all the light standards uniform in color. Nothing drives me more crazy than driving down a street (most notable inner city communities) and passing a chipped/faded green, a rusted brown, and a stainless steel light pole all beside one another. Looks tacky and cheap as hell.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

The new lights aren't bad, but the sidewalks in areas with boulevards are sooo dark now.

In my neighbourhood we end up with blurry shadows from the trees. Nothing like walking the dog in the morning and wondering "Am I drunk?"

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by The Familia

I really like the new lights. The color is much more pleasant, not to mention they look more modern and crisp. I do have a huge complaint. Can the city finally remove all the old brown streetlight/intersection light poles that look like they have been rusting for centuries? In addition, how about making all the light standards uniform in color. Nothing drives me more crazy than driving down a street (most notable inner city communities) and passing a chipped/faded green, a rusted brown, and a stainless steel light pole all beside one another. Looks tacky and cheap as hell.

Oh man, I hope we have better things to spend our tax dollars on than matching street lights for the latte set.

[Buzzard]

They look cool in fog at night.

Someone who takes better pictures than I needs to experiment with that!

[Acey]

There's a short stretch of them on the ring road here in Edmonton and it's hilarious how much brighter they are. It's like driving from night into day and back into night. Great for busy freeways, but they definitely need to be turned down in residential areas.

[Lubicon]

Our street was just converted over to the LED's a few weeks ago. Similar to my experience with them on major roads i have mixed reviews on them. The light itself is much brighter than the old yellow ones and illuminates the immediate way better than before but the light does not spread nearly as much resulting in very dark areas on the street between the lights. The City needs to either install light poles closer together or better yet adjust the shape of the housings/reflectors so that the light is cast over a larger area. We have a light right outside our house an my daughter's room is lit up all night now despite having window blinds. Go down the street two houses and it is almost pitch black on the street.

I am beginning to adjust to the different light and am liking it but the City needs to make some adjustments so the lights cover as much area as they did before.

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

Our street was just converted over to the LED's a few weeks ago. Similar to my experience with them on major roads i have mixed reviews on them. The light itself is much brighter than the old yellow ones and illuminates the immediate way better than before but the light does not spread nearly as much resulting in very dark areas on the street between the lights. The City needs to either install light poles closer together or better yet adjust the shape of the housings/reflectors so that the light is cast over a larger area. We have a light right outside our house an my daughter's room is lit up all night now despite having window blinds. Go down the street two houses and it is almost pitch black on the street.

I am beginning to adjust to the different light and am liking it but the City needs to make some adjustments so the lights cover as much area as they did before.

I'm willing to bet the light is as bright as it was previously in the darker areas, but the bright areas are brighter than before.

[Lubicon]

I suppose that is possible, I never really thought of that angle before.

[Drummer]

https://streetlightoutage.calgary.ca

Every streetlight in the city is on this map and you can click on any ones that don't work to report it to the city to have fixed.

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by Drummer

https://streetlightoutage.calgary.ca

Every streetlight in the city is on this map and you can click on any ones that don't work to report it to the city to have fixed.

Sweet. And the one I have been meaning to report for a few weeks now but could not because 311 is useless has already been reported by someone else. We'll see if it gets fixed.

[Drummer]

The allowed timeframe Enmax has to fix a reported outage is 30 business days. That's way too long.

[tvp2003]

There are four streetlights all burnt out, just down the street from my house. Intersection is very dark, but not as bad as the cul-de-sac a block over which is literally pitch black at night. I'll keep an eye on that 30 day window -- they're getting close.

Edit: the first one was reported on oct 14 and it's still not fixed. Bravo Enmax...

[V]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

Our street was just converted over to the LED's a few weeks ago. Similar to my experience with them on major roads i have mixed reviews on them. The light itself is much brighter than the old yellow ones and illuminates the immediate way better than before but the light does not spread nearly as much resulting in very dark areas on the street between the lights. The City needs to either install light poles closer together or better yet adjust the shape of the housings/reflectors so that the light is cast over a larger area. We have a light right outside our house an my daughter's room is lit up all night now despite having window blinds. Go down the street two houses and it is almost pitch black on the street.

I am beginning to adjust to the different light and am liking it but the City needs to make some adjustments so the lights cover as much area as they did before.

Sounds like a bad design. You shouldn't be seeing that much variance on the road.

I'm surprised to hear about your daughter's room. One of the complaints with the new lights is that there's no backlight, so the sidewalks aren't appropriately lit. There shouldn't be light shining onto your yard, let alone into your house.

[Lubicon]

IS it normal to have the lights flash when they are not working properly? I have seen this in several locations now, it's like a strobe light at night and very annoying. the locations have all been reported on the website linked above but some of those lights Have been that way for weeks or more now.

[Inglewood Jack]

it's funny cause everyone slows down around them as if they are photo radar. maybe it's on purpose?

[Radio]

I generally like them. They are brighter and bring out the details better, but i find the throw of light is smaller, they don't illuminate as big an area as the amber lights did.

[mrkajz44]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

IS it normal to have the lights flash when they are not working properly? I have seen this in several locations now, it's like a strobe light at night and very annoying. the locations have all been reported on the website linked above but some of those lights Have been that way for weeks or more now.

Yeah, I've noticed this on Glenmore around Deerfoot and Heritage where a few lights are strobing a bit. It's quite distracting while driving, and I've noticed it has been like that for a few weeks. The website says the light has been reported, but it sounds like the response time is pretty slow.

[Fuzz]

I was driving through the construction zone at COP Sunday night and saw these rapid flashes as a truck whipped by. I thought it was photo radar at first, but it didn't make much sense, so it was probably one of the lights flickering.

Have other cities done this kind of large scale transition, or are we guinea pigs?

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I was driving through the construction zone at COP Sunday night and saw these rapid flashes as a truck whipped by. I thought it was photo radar at first, but it didn't make much sense, so it was probably one of the lights flickering.

Have other cities done this kind of large scale transition, or are we guinea pigs?

That's the first one I noticed about 6 weeks ago, and the one that drives me nuts every morning. I thought it was photo radar at first too (actually would be a good location if they were looking for a good revenue generator since nobody drives the speed limit here)