Late this month, workers will start replacing lamps in 160 street lights, primarily between Main and Martin Street on Ken Pratt Boulevard, and from Ken Pratt to Longs Peak Avenue on Main Street. (See map)  LEDs will also be installed:

• On Third and Fourth avenues from Main to Kimbark Street
• On Kimbark between Third and Fourth
• Along the South Pratt Parkway from Second Avenue to Boston Avenue. 

The work, which is part of a citywide replacement program, is expected to be finished by Memorial Day weekend.

LEDs, or light-emitting diodes, require less maintenance and are far more energy efficient than both traditional forms of lighting and compact-fluorescent lamps (CFLs), while still producing a pleasing light quality, LPC spokesman Scott Rochat said.  An LED uses 40% to 80% less power than other lighting technologies, which tend to degrade within about two years.

“We’ve all seen traditional street lights flicker and go out when they reach the end of their life,” Rochat said. “An LED streetlight instead begins a slow fade – so slow that even at the end of its 20-year expected life, it’s still giving off 90% of its normal light.”

The dimming often doesn’t become noticeable until it reaches 70%,  he said. The work will not require new poles.

About $75,000 has been budgeted for the replacements this year; the increased efficiency from the lights is expected to pay back the cost over 13 years. By this summer,  LPC will have replaced roughly 200 streetlights – mostly high-pressure sodium lights – with LED luminaires, including earlier test areas at Hover Street, Sunset Street and South Martin Street. LPC is investigating plans to gradually convert all 4,100 street lights in the city to LEDs.

Meanwhile, another 2,673 “pedestal lights” – the 6-foot-6-inch to 7-foot tall lamp posts seen in many Longmont neighborhoods – will have their CFLs replaced with LEDs this summer by the Boulder County Youth Corps. The work completes a three-year effort to replace all 9,823 pedestal lights in Longmont with LEDs. Work is expected to begin in mid-to-late June.

About Longmont Power & Communications

Longmont Power & Communications (LPC) is a community-owned non-profit electric and broadband services utility that operates under the direction of Longmont City Council. Our mission is to deliver outstanding electric and broadband service experiences to our customer-owners while providing exceptional value and benefit to our community. Our  buildout of the  citywide NextLight fiber-optic network is expected to be complete in 2017, making Longmont the first “gigabit city” in Colorado.  To learn more, visit  www.LongmontColorado.gov/lpc.