NEWPORT NEWS, Va (WAVY) — New streetlights are coming to the city in an effort to not only save money, but cut down on crime.
On Tuesday, the Newport News City Council was briefed on the new Citywide Lighting Initiative that aims at upgrading 20,000 streetlights to light-emitting diodes (LED). The change would cost $3 million to complete, however LEDs would lower the energy bill over time by almost $20 a month, according to the city’s engineering department.
However, the initiative also intends on improving public safety, by prioritizing lighting improvements to areas with high crime rates.
“The Southeast Community is one of our priorities,” said Everett Skipper, Director of the Department of Engineering.
In that community, $73,000 has already been set aside to upgrade the nearly 500 lights in the area.
Residents will notice the difference when changes are made, according to Skipper.
“Current bulbs are high pressure sodium, which has sort of a yellowish cast to it,” Skipper said. “The LED lights are a whiter, feels brighter, even though it hasn’t changed the amount of lumens.”
All public lights in the city are maintained by Dominion Power and they will be completing the upgrades.
Only the lighting fixture itself will be changed in most cases, but Skipper said other maintenance will occur at the same time.
“We check to make sure that the trees in the area are trimmed, so it’s not blocking the light from getting out in the street,” Skipper said. “Then we also look at the spacing and the positioning of the lights to make sure they have the light to light the entire area.”
In rare cases new poles and fixtures will be added, Skipper said.
As crews make changes to the public lights, the city will also reach out to private property owners, including apartment complexes and shopping centers, to also upgrade their lighting system.
“We are hopeful they do our two red zones in the first six months,” Skipper added. “But this will all be done on Dominion’s schedule.”
The remaining will be done as funding becomes available.
