Outdoor lighting of the road: requirements and standards

What functions does road lighting perform?

With properly designed and installed lighting of city streets and roads

the appearance of any settlement becomes more aesthetically pleasing, and the cities themselves become more convenient and safe to live in. Improved visibility makes movement more comfortable for both pedestrians and motorists. In addition, city street lighting is a preventive measure to reduce crime.

Thus, the main principle for organizing the lighting of city streets and roads is to create a comfortable environment that meets the citywide concept - both aesthetically and technically.

Road Lighting Norms and Standards

Urban street lighting, both in the pedestrian and roadway areas, must be carried out taking into account the standards set out in regulatory documents.

The standards described in regulatory documents establish requirements for the following parameters of outdoor road lighting:

• lighting devices and their components;
• illumination level of highways, pedestrian areas and other locations outside buildings;
• methods for calculating the illumination level.

The following regulatory documents are relevant when developing a city lighting scheme:

GOST 33176-2014 regulates the degree of horizontal illumination of public roads, GOST R 55706-2013 establishes the classification and standards of outdoor lighting, GOST IEC 60598-2-3-2012 regulates the selection of lighting devices for street and road lighting, GOST R 56239 describes the methods for measuring the standardized parameters.

In addition to GOSTs for outdoor lighting of highways, SNiP 23-05-95 is relevant.

Standards for street lighting in rural areas and in the city, lighting of highways and pedestrian zones

Standards for lighting pedestrian streets depend on the size of the settlement, the importance of the street and its type.

1. Pedestrian tunnels should have the highest intensity, it is from 50 to 100 lux.
2. City transport stops and playgrounds should have illumination within 10 lux.
3. The same degree of illumination is established on central streets and transition zones.

The minimum standard for road illumination is from 5 to 20 lux. It depends on the status of the road and the size of the settlement:

• city roads - 10-15 LC,
• main streets of district significance - from 15-20 LC,
• roads and streets of local significance - from 4 to 6 LC,
• small streets of the private sector - from 2 LC.

Lighting in rural areas is described in a separate section of SNiP 23-05-95. Outdoor street lighting in settlements, villages or towns should cover 80% of the area. That is, partial absence of lighting is possible on streets that are practically not used.

Requirements for lighting of city roads:

• The lighting of the road surface should not have shading, it should be uniform.
• The area of ​​​​vehicle traffic, the shoulder and adjacent lanes should be illuminated, the light sources should be directed at the road surface, and not up or to the sides.
• Zones of narrowing of the road surface, road intersections, as well as pedestrian crossings should be highlighted by changing the color of the light devices and the brightness of the lighting.

Rules for organizing lighting systems

Street lighting along roads and streets is a complex multi-level process, which, in addition to installing lighting fixtures, has an important design stage. Calculations are prepared taking into account long-term development prospects of the territory, which may include the expansion of highways and the construction of new buildings.

When installing a street lamp for road lighting, its energy efficiency and performance level, as well as electrical safety, fault tolerance and service life are taken into account.

Lighting of city roads takes into account the following features of the urban environment:

• street dustiness;
• road or pedestrian zone width;
• road surface reflectivity;
• the color scheme that prevails in the surrounding landscape;
• light noise characteristics;
• average precipitation for this area.

Types of road lighting

All lighting equipment for urban road lighting can be divided by purpose, control method and types of supports. Types of urban road lighting by purpose by purpose are:

• Lighting devices for sidewalks, pedestrian areas and bicycle paths. Usually, lanterns with round lampshades are used for these purposes.
• Street lamps for road lighting are devices equipped with reflectors that provide concentrated lighting on the road.

According to the method of controlling power sources, street lighting is:

• street lamps for road lighting with manual control;
• lighting devices with a photo relay - such a system is autonomous and equipped with light sensors;
• lamps with programmable control units.

By type of supports, lighting equipment can be divided into:

• metal structures,
• concrete pillars,
• supports made of composite material.

Lighting equipment

Requirements for outdoor road lighting fixtures:

• Convenience and ease of maintenance,
• Protection from moisture and adverse weather conditions of at least IP65 class,
• Efficiency in energy consumption,
• Aesthetic design,
• Long service life.

LED lamps meet all of the above requirements. They are suitable for lighting roads of all categories, as they are equipped with special optics that allow uniform illumination of all sections of the road. In addition, LED lamps consume electricity economically, which allows you to save on their maintenance in the future.