United States Department of Transportation
i
Guidelines for freeway lighting curfews.
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2012-10-01
[PDF-888.78 KB]
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NTL Classification:NTL-HIGHWAY/ROAD TRANSPORTATION-HIGHWAY/ROAD TRANSPORTATION;NTL-SAFETY AND SECURITY-Highway Safety;
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Abstract:Roadway lighting is provided on selected highways to improve the visibility of the nighttime environment.
Roadway lighting is typically warranted on the basis of the daily traffic volume. However, in the earlymorning
hours, the traffic volumes may be so low as to diminish the need for roadway lighting. At present,
the lighting infrastructure in place on Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) highways is not well
suited to being dimmed. As a result, turning off roadway lighting during early morning hours is the only
option. This concept is known as a lighting curfew for purposes of this research project. The lighting curfew
section of the TxDOT 2003 Illumination Manual does not provide specific guidelines or criteria for
implementing lighting curfews. Although lighting curfews are of interest around the country, no state has
developed guidelines for lighting curfews, nor are there national guidelines at this time. The most significant
potential benefits of lighting curfews include reduced power consumption and reduced light pollution.
This project focused upon developing guidelines for implementing lighting curfews on urban freeways,
which have the potential to impact TxDOT’s ability to manage its lighting infrastructure in an advantageous
manner. The guidelines developed through this project identify threshold criteria under which freeway main
lane lighting can be turned off. The guidelines also identify conditions or exceptions under which lighting
curfews should be suspended, modified, canceled, or not used at all (such as periods of inclement weather or
during a major late-night event).
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