The Arizona Department of Transportation recently completed installation of amber light emitting diode or LED highway lights in the Flagstaff area in support of both roadway safety and the city’s internationally recognized commitment to “dark skies.”
[Above photo by Arizona DOT]
The $1.1 million project, which started in May, installed amber LED lights that replace more than 370 outdated high pressure sodium light fixtures used to illuminate highways under the agency’s jurisdiction in the Flagstaff area.
The project’s goal is to effectively reduce impacts on the brightness of the night sky in Flagstaff, which is recognized as a “Dark Sky City” – part of an effort to use full-cutoff fixtures that cast little or no light upward in public areas to help protect nocturnal animals from light pollution.
“All the planning and testing have become a reality with the completion of our installation work,” said Jeremy DeGeyter, Arizona DOT’s Northcentral District administrator, in a statement. “I want to emphasize the importance of the partnership we’ve had with the local community, including Flagstaff and dark skies supporters.”
The agency added that it has switched to amber LED lighting at all I-17 and I-40 interchanges in Flagstaff, including the large interchange connecting the two interstates. Lighting also has been converted to amber LED along stretches of Milton Road and Route 66 (Santa Fe Boulevard) near and in the downtown Flagstaff area.
Previously, Arizona DOT said it used fixtures and shields in Flagstaff and elsewhere for decades to limit the upward projection of highway lighting.
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