LED's light new I-35 bridge

[patric]

From the city that outgrew the Acorn light fad...

The streetlights on the spans of the rebuilt I-35 bridge in Minneapolis are some of the new Full-Cutoff L.E.D. streetlights mentioned here recently.

Thought it was worth a photo or two.


 

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/09/18/minneapolis.bridge.ap/index.html#
http://www.cnn.com/video/savp/evp/?loc=dom&vid=/video/us/2008/09/18/vo.mn.bridge.opens.kare

[TheArtist]

I like that soft glow versus the typical harsh glare.

[patric]

quote:Originally posted by TheArtist

I like that soft glow versus the typical harsh glare.

What a difference it makes with something as simple as directing the light out of your eyes.
Im willing to bet it wasnt "recommended" by their local electric utility.

Some industry schpeal:

"(BUSINESS WIRE) -- BetaLED(TM) luminaries are installed along the entire deck of the newly rebuilt I-35W St. Anthony Falls Bridge located in Minneapolis, Minn. in preparation for the bridge's reopening scheduled for 5 a.m. Thursday.
All of the fixtures on the bridge deck are THE EDGE(TM) area luminaires which deliver more than five times the life of traditional 250-Watt high-pressure sodium lamps, significantly reducing maintenance costs such as relamping and replacement. Officials also expect to gain an annual energy savings of approximately 15 percent from the luminaires."
"Visibility is dramatically improved, increasing safety for vehicular traffic on the bridge deck. The EDGE(TM) luminaries are also IES full cutoff and Dark Sky compliant."

[PonderInc]

I'm one of those people who's a fan of "warm" colored light.  These seem a bit on the cold/blue end of the spectrum. (In the pictures, it's got that sci-fi space station feel...) But it's great that they're full-cutoff and energy efficient.  Tulsa?  Anybody listening?  Nope.  Too busy installing acorn lights to notice this example.

(Sooo tired of watching downtown get turned into Acorn City.  When I think of the great cities I've been to, it occurs to me that none of them are lit like the inside of your refrigerator.  "Ahhh...those romantic strolls in the garish, white light of acorn lamps...  There's nothing like prison-yard lighting to make you want to go out for a walk with your sweetheart.")

[patric]

quote:Originally posted by PonderInc

I'm one of those people who's a fan of "warm" colored light.  These seem a bit on the cold/blue end of the spectrum. (In the pictures, it's got that sci-fi space station feel...) But it's great that they're full-cutoff and energy efficient.  Tulsa?  Anybody listening?  Nope.  Too busy installing acorn lights to notice this example.

(Sooo tired of watching downtown get turned into Acorn City.  When I think of the great cities I've been to, it occurs to me that none of them are lit like the inside of your refrigerator.  "Ahhh...those romantic strolls in the garish, white light of acorn lamps...  There's nothing like prison-yard lighting to make you want to go out for a walk with your sweetheart.")

These are probably their stock color, which is 6000 Kelvin (daylight).  At night that color is closer to moonlight and a little cold and uninviting.

I wasnt able to find all their ordering options, but I believe they have something at (or close to) 3500 Kelvin, which is a much warmer color closer to incandescent or candle-flame color.

Warmer colors are more pleasing to the eye (and would be my choice if one was wanting to "liven up" a public area at night) but at extremely low light levels the eye is more sensitive to blue light (what is known as Scotopic Vision).

One of the areas where Metal Halide light (what we use inside Tulsa's fake antique "Acorn" lights) fails is that it is blue light but at very high levels, so any advantage of using bluish-white light at night is lost due to overkill.
This bad technique likely comes on the advice of those who sell the electricity Acorns are so good at wasting.

Warm-white, eye-friendly Full-Cutoff L.E.D. lighting is just around the corner, but without some performance standards guiding our streetlighting specifications that corner will be in someone elses' town.    



Did anyone else notice the highway signs are illuminated by headlights?
Retro-reflective signage has come a long way, too, and smarter states realize that floodlighting them is a waste of money, as well.

[TheArtist]

I dont mind the blue toned lights on the highway at all. Kind of looks kewl imo lol. Would not want that on most pedestrian or arterial streets though.

As for the acorn lights... I think its time we get a bit creative here. Lets not continue to lambast them on here, but perhaps find solutions. Find a way to be involved and get different lights installed in other areas. Also see if we can come up with ideas to have the ones that are installed "retrofitted" with different light bulbs that are warmer and or more efficient, or even have the "acorns" themselves replaced with something different. I have seen where they replaced them with hand blown glass of different colors and designs. Would look great in the Brady Arts district.

[patric]

quote:As for the acorn lights... I think its time we get a bit creative here. Lets not continue to lambast them on here, but perhaps find solutions. Find a way to be involved and get different lights installed in other areas. Also see if we can come up with ideas to have the ones that are installed "retrofitted" with different light bulbs that are warmer and or more efficient, or even have the "acorns" themselves replaced with something different. I have seen where they replaced them with hand blown glass of different colors and designs. Would look great in the Brady Arts district.

We poked at it a bit here
http://www.tulsanow.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7865
but the blown glass globes sound intriguing.

We definitely would need to tone down the intensity so you could actually be able to look at the light, which means the actual job of illuminating streets would have to be done by some other, more efficient fixtures (and totally screw up the Vision 2025 nestegg for the utilities).