Effective Roadway Lighting

The new Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IES) RP-8-14 Recommended Practice for Roadway Lighting has changed to the Luminance design method as the primary design method. The new RP-8. also has new guidance related to LED lighting, Adaptive Lighting and Lighting for Pedestrians. Learn the basics of lighting design, design methods and guidelines with this course.

• Engineering consultants 
• State DOT engineers 
• Municipal engineers 
• Public works directors and superintendents 
• Lighting designers, architects 
• Electric utility engineers 
• Lighting manufacturers and suppliers 
• Others involved in design, operation, and maintenance of roadway lighting

Why Do We Install Roadway Lighting?

• Safety
• Security
• Cost/benefit considerations
• When should we light? – Warrants

Designing “In Scale”

• Lighting is a geometry problem
• Rules of Thumb for Selecting Mounting Height of Lighting
• Design “in scale” with the street

Review of Lighting Fundamentals

• Roadway lighting units of measure
• Photometric reports
• Reflection and refraction
• Visibility 

Light Sources for Roadway Lighting 

• High Intensity Discharge lamps
• LED lighting
• Induction Lighting
• Color Rendering Index (CRI)
• Correlated Color Temperature (CCT)
• Scotopic/Photopic ratio (S/P)

Luminaire Selection

• Luminaire types
• Reflectors and refractors
• Roadway distribution types
• Cutoff classifications
• Backlight, Uplight, and Glare (BUG) ratings
• Ingress Protection (IP) ratings
• Maintenance considerations

Evaluating Street Lighting for Energy Efficiency

• Energy Analysis Approaches
• Comparing LED & HID Lighting Systems
• Retrofitting Existing Systems
• Examples and Exercises

Introduction to the New ANSI/IES Rp-08-14 Recommended Practice for Roadway Lighting

• Roadway classifications
• Luminaire
• Design criteria
• Design considerations
• Lighting for pedestrian activity
• Limiting light trespass & skyglow

Example Design Problems

• Illuminance design
• Luminance design
• Comparison of results

Lighting Design Exercises

• Designing with computer software
• Considering energy efficiency, connected load and life cycle cost in design
• Retrofit Design Exercise
• Complex geometries, intersections and other special cases

Translating Design to Practice: How the Real World Gets in the Way

• Applying theoretical spacing to plan
• Intersection adjustments
• Utility considerations
• Trees and landscape coordination
•  Specification and construction issues

Lighting Design Plan Sheet Exercise

Roadway Lighting  - Electrical Basics

• Basic lighting circuits
• Electrical plans, details, and panel schedules
• Voltage drop calculations

Adaptive Lighting and Lighting Controls

Poles. Foundations and Safety

• Pole materials
• Typical foundation design
• Alternative foundation types
• Direct burial poles
• Clear zone considerations
• Breakaway assemblies

"Great course–covered almost every aspect of roadway lighting."

"Good examples, real-world issues."

"I got the answers to several plaguing problems."

"A completely useful course. I am happy to report to my company that our training time and money were so effectively used."

"This course was great. I would highly recommend it to anyone regardless of their street lighting experience."

Benjamin Jordan

Benjamin J. Jordan, PE is a program director with Interdisciplinary Professional Programs in the transportation sector. He has over 35 years of experience in civil engineering and public works. He earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and a Master of Public Affairs degree with a Certificate in Public Management from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He is a Licensed Professional Engineer in the State of Illinois.

Graeme Lister

Suzanne Lansford

Suzanne Lansford, PE, President and Principal, REDD Inc., Phoenix, Arizona

Rick Kaufmann