A staple in every country with a working infrastructure, street lights a ubiquitous fixture of modern-day life. Not only are they functional, providing light to motorists during the night, but they also have a major impact to the appearance of the road scheme/urban design. Lighting can make or break a place's aesthetic feel. This is especially important in old historic towns and conservation areas, where all elements have to work seamlessly together to complete the look.
Street lighting includes lamp housings, electrical appliances, light sources, lamp poles, lamp arms, flanges, and other built-in fittings help keep motorists and pedestrians safe at low-light situations. They help identify the functions of different roads, create an urban design effect, illuminate bottle necks, bends and traffic calming features, enable road users to see obstacles, and reduce the fear of crime at nighttime.
Lighting can take many forms, including: high pole street lights, middle pole lamps, road lamps, garden street lamps, lawn lamps, hot-dip galvanized iron or steel lamps, stainless-steel lights, sodium street lamps, led street lamps, energy-saving street lights, xenon lamps, non-polar street lights, chinese street lamps, antique street lights, landscape lamps, single arm street lamps, double armed lights, solar LED lights, scenery complementary street lamps, Metal Halide Street Lights, High Pressure Sodium (HPS) Street Lights, Low Pressure Sodium (LPS) Street Lights, Phosphor-Converted Amber (PCA) LED Street Lights, Narrow-Band Amber (NBA) LED Street Lights, and more. Street lights can also be classified as the follow:
Light Projection: indicates that the light emitted by the luminaire is spread vertically along the road. It is divided into short, medium and long projection street lights. Light Extension: indicates the extent to which the light emitted by a luminaire spreads horizontally across the road. It includes narrow, normal, wide lamps. Light Control: indicates the degree to which a luminaire controls glare. It is divided into 3 kinds which are called limited, medium, strict street lamps.
Good examples of street lighting take into consideration the layout of access and shared surface roads, driveways, walkways, trees, shrubs, and eliminate shadows in places where pedestrians/cyclists would otherwise be vulnerable.Lighting poles, brackets, batteries, and other fittings should also be vandalism-resistant, be placed in positions which minimize the risk of damage by vehicles, and should be aligned with other street accessories to enhance the look and feel of the urban landscape.
These days, intelligent street lighting is all the rage. This refers to public street lighting that adapts to movement by pedestrians, cyclists and cars, dims when no activity is detected, brightens when movement around, and is a much more efficient way of lighting cities. This type of lighting differs significantly from traditional, stationary illumination, or dimmable street lighting that dims at pre-determined times, which can't adjust to the changing demands of an urbanscape. These newer versions work by placing cameras or other sensors on street lights, which enables them to detect movement and communicate with one another.