Work has started on a project to upgrade all the street lights in Springfield, Massachusetts to energy-efficient LED lighting.
What is expected to be a five-year project to retrofit all 14,000 street lights in Springfield to LED bulbs started in January in the city’s Indian Orchard neighborhood, said Eric Falcone, Electric Field Operations Manager for Eversource.
“On a yearly basis, we are looking to convert about 3,000 units, so we are at about 15 percent of that target having converted about 450 streetlights,” he said.
The city and Eversource announced an agreement late last year to convert all the streetlights to LED at no cost to the taxpayers. Because the LEDs use less electricity than incandescent or high-pressure sodium bulbs it is not expected the city will pay substantially more to operate and maintain the streetlights once the upgrades are completed. Currently, the city pays $3.3 million annually to Eversource to keep the streetlights on.
Dimly lit sidewalks and broken streetlights have been chronic complaints for years in Springfield, so it is a bit ironic the feedback the city has received so far about the new LED lights, said Springfield DPW Director Chris Cignoli.
“The complaint has been that it is too bright,” he said.
He told a recent hearing of the City Council’s Maintenance and Development Committee that the project has also resulted in additional lighting for some streets.
“Whenever there is a determination that we need to put a new light in (Eversource ) contacts me and 99 percent of the time we approve it,” Cignoli said.
Ward 8 City Councilor Zaida Govan said it is exciting the much-anticipated streetlight conversion work has started in the neighborhood she represents.
“I’ll look forward to seeing the new LED lights and I’ll make sure our neighbors are aware of it as well,” Govan said.
After Indian Orchard, the streetlight conversion project will shift to the Pine Point neighborhood, according to an Eversource spokesman. The rest of the work schedule has not been publicly announced.
City Council President Jesse Lederman urged a follow-up hearing to discuss the fate of decorative lighting in the city’s historic districts after an Eversource spokesman said some of the fixtures are no longer being manufactured or are difficult to obtain because of supply chain issues.
“We need to come up with a plan for what that conversion will look like,” he said. “Just swapping them out to traditional poles shouldn’t be the answer.”
Beginning in 2016, the city worked with Eversource to enhance pedestrian lighting downtown. Over time, about 150 new lights were attached to existing poles and focused on sidewalks.
So-called “up-lighting” has been added to specific buildings downtown, such as the Central Library, to highlight historic architecture.
Decorative lights have been strung across some downtown streets to illuminate outdoor dining spots.
