VANCOUVER — Federal stimulus money is bringing much brighter and more efficient street lights to the Fruit Valley area.
The city began switching out 40 existing high-intensity discharge street lights last weekend and replacing them with new light emitting diode fixtures along Fruit Valley Road from West 34th Street north to the main entrance of Frito Lay. Work will be completed within the next two weeks, with the final 10 LED lights to be installed between West 39th Street and Frito Lay, Traffic Engineering and Operations Manager Ali Eghtedari said.
A new LED fixture uses much less energy than an old light and more light is directed onto the street, instead of shining into the sky where it contributes to light pollution. The LED lights also are expected to decrease labor and maintenance costs. The old lights lasted about three years; the LED fixtures last 15 years or longer.
The switch is being funded with $60,000 from the Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The city will follow up with a study to measure the energy and maintenance savings.
The city already has changed its traffic-signal light cells to LED, which has resulted in increased reliability and decreased maintenance costs.
