LED to Replace 266 GP Farms Street Lights

More than 200 street lights in  will be converted to LED lighting this year after the city council approved the project Monday.

This is the third year the city has participated in the conversion project that is ultimately slated to save energy expenses for the city and therefore the residents. There is an upfront cost but Farms City Manager Shane Reeside said Monday the money will be made back in savings within three and a half years. 

According to estimates by officials, the new LED lights are expected to save the city more than $23,000 annually. The Farms will contribute about $80,000 for the newest round of conversions. 

Reeside said the reaction by residents has been positive to the new lighting, which was installed along Lake Shore Road last year. For the most part, residents have not noticed the change but when officials have asked about it, the response has been positive, he said.

In addition to having more energy efficient lighting, for which the Farms receives a rebate through a DTE program related to saving energy, the wiring and hardware for each of the streetlights will be updated, Reeside said. 

The updates are likely to fix the many street lighting outages residents have voiced concerns about for a few years, he said, giving an the example of Handy Road where street lights were out seven or eight times last year alone. 

The LED lights replace mercury vapor lights, which are no longer used. The easiest way to tell if a light has been converted is to look at the fixture itself. The LED lights have several smaller lights within one unit rather than one larger bulb, similar to headlights in some newer model cars, Reeside said. 

The more than 200 light fixtures to be replaced this year are along:

• Merriweather between Ridge and Grosse Pointe Boulevard
• Moran Road between Williams and Grosse Pointe Boulevard
• Kenwood Court
• Lewiston from McMillan Road to Ridge Road
• Ridge Road from Fisher to Merriweather
• McKinely Road from Williams to Kercheval Avenue
• Grosse Pointe Boulevard from Fisher Road to Stanton Lane
• Beverly Road
• Pine Court
• Handy Place

The city is also working to repaint the lightpoles as well this year, which helps extend the life of the poles by protecting them from weather and typically at this time of year, salt.