Demonstration and Evaluation of New Approaches for Roundabout Lighting
Roundabout lighting consisting of pole-mounted high pressure sodium luminaires can be energy intensive and does not necessarily provide clear delineation for drivers and pedestrians navigating a roundabout. Using ecoluminance, a novel approach to lighting integrated with vegetation using lower mounting heights and reflected light from plants and retroreflective elements, it could be possible to provide visually effective illumination at a roundabout using substantially less energy. A short-term lighting demonstration using the ecoluminance approach was conducted at a real-world roundabout in New York State. Feedback from transportation engineers and members of the public was used to refine the ecoluminance concept for a subsequent longer-term demonstration, consisting of shrubs and trees in the central roundabout island, landscape lighting for these items, pedestrian bollard lighting at crosswalks, overhead light-emitting diode (LED) luminaires in sidewalk and roadway areas, and retroreflective markers to delineate the perimeter of the central island. Photometric measurements matched simulations developed during the design stage and confirmed that pedestrians and roadway elements were visible to drivers and pedestrians. Observations of approaching vehicle speeds with the ecoluminance system installed and with the conventional lighting installed revealed little difference in approach speeds. The ecoluminance system had similar initial costs, mainly because of high LED equipment costs (which are decreasing over time) and used only one-fourth the energy of the conventional roundabout lighting system.
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Supplemental Notes:
- This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AND40-1 Visbility Special Paper Review Coordination.
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Corporate Authors:
500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC United States 20001 -
Authors:
- Bullough, John D
- Snyder, Jeremy D
- Skinner, Nicholas P
- Capó, Rosa I
- Rizzo, Patricia
- Besenecker, Ute C
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Conference:
- Transportation Research Board 93rd Annual Meeting
- Location: Washington DC
- Date: 2014-1-12 to 2014-1-16
- Date: 2014
Language
- English
Media Info
- Media Type: Digital/other
- Features: Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
- Pagination: 11p
- Monograph Title: TRB 93rd Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Energy conservation; Light emitting diodes; Lighting; Luminaires; Retroreflectivity; Roundabouts; Vegetation
- Uncontrolled Terms: Ecoluminance
- Geographic Terms: New York (State)
- Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I20: Design and Planning of Transport Infrastructure; I85: Safety Devices used in Transport Infrastructure;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01514493
- Record Type: Publication
- Report/Paper Numbers: 14-1134
- Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
- Created Date: Feb 18 2014 5:21PM