Terminal Park streetlights

A chief complaint among Terminal Park neighborhood residents is the lack of streetlights. The Terminal Park neighborhood has streetlights along its arterial streets (A Street SE, 12th Street SE, 17th Street SE and Auburn Way South). A few streets do not have any streetlights at all. For instance, 7th Street SE has only one streetlight and 8th Street SE does not have any streetlights. Along most of the other residential streets, streetlights are located at the intersections.

Streetlights in Auburn commonly fall into two categories: streetlights on wooden poles and streetlights on metal poles. Streetlights on metal poles are typically owned and maintained by the City of Auburn. These lights are commonly found on arterial and collector streets. Most of them have underground power.

For the most part, streetlights on wooden poles are owned and maintained by Puget Sound Energy (PSE) - IntoLight Division. IntoLight provides exterior lighting services for public or private roadways, parking areas, parks, pathways, commercial properties, etc. IntoLight provides a variety of different types of streetlights. Lights on wooden poles are typically the standard cobrahead light on an extended eight-foot arm that is connected to aerial power lines.

Whoever pays the light bill is the agency or individual that needs to contact IntoLight. For most streetlights in the city, the City of Auburn pays the light bill.

Arrangements for public streetlights are made through the City's transportation engineer. For streetlights for which the City does not pay the light bill, residents can directly contact PSE's IntoLight Division. For instance, some property owner may pay for streetlights that also serve as yard lights. Some residents pay for lights located in alleys. They install these lights for safety and security reasons.

The majority of the streetlights in the Terminal Park neighborhood are the standard cobrahead lights on wooden utility poles. Most of them are owned and operated by PSE's IntoLight Division and the City of Auburn pays the light bill.

The main problem appears to be the lack of street lighting in between intersections. For instance, the long streets that run between 17th Street SE and 12th Street SE, have only two streets on them. These streets are 1,275 long. The City of Auburn's recommend standard is one street light every 185 feet. These streets need six streetlights {compared to the existing two streetlights} to meet the City's standard.

On most of the residential streets in the Terminal Park neighborhood that run east-to-west, streetlights are located approximate 500 feet apart. They have a 70-watt bulb in fixtures located approximately 25 feet off the ground. On a 30-foot wide street, these lights have an effective range of less than 50 feet from the pole. Consequently, given the current spacing of existing streetlights, residential streets in the Terminal Park neighborhood would appear to have long sections of "dark spots". These streets would not feel very safe for the average pedestrian at night.

Other factors may also impede the effectiveness of existing streetlights. For instance, dirt depreciation is the loss of light due to dirt accumulating in the luminaire over time. Lumen depreciation is the loss of light output of the lamp as it ages. Finally, some of the light fixtures may be located too low. The recommended standard is 30 feet. Reducing the height of the light significantly reduces the radius of its effectiveness.

The illumination of the Terminal Park neighborhood can be increased in a variety ways. Adding more streetlights would help. The average cost of a cobrahead streetlight attached to a wooden utility pole is less than $1,500 per light. The installation of 60 streetlights would cost approximately $100,000 and would upgrade most of the western half of the neighborhood to meet city standards.

Another option is raising the height of the light fixture to 35 feet. Raising the height of the light fixture enables the installation of 250 watt to 400-watt bulbs. These larger bulbs increase the range of illumination by two to four times respectively. The disadvantage of these larger bulbs is they also increase the glare for those residents who live near the light pole.

Finally, the existing bulbs could be upgraded. For instance, replacing the existing 70-watt bulb with a 100-watt bulb would add roughly 25 feet to the effective range of the existing lamps. Cleaning or replacing the lenses on existing streetlights may also help. Over time these lenses get dirty or yellow with age. They depreciate the effectiveness and range of the streetlight.