Sir Francis Drake Boulevard Street Lighting

closed

The County replaced street lighting related to the lights that were installed on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard (SFDB) during the Upgrade The Drake project. The replacements are intended to reduce light dispersal on adjacent properties, decrease intensity and improve the light aesthetic while maintaining lighting uniformity levels necessary for safety. Lighting poles and fixtures in the medians were replaced along approximately one third of the SFDB corridor that was worked on as part of the Upgrade The Drake project. They were replaced with shorter, decorative poles and dimmer fixtures. The shorter poles require closer spacing to sufficiently and uniformly light the roadway, resulting in a net increase in total street lights with a net decrease of light dispersal into adjacent properties. To reduce additional cost, the placement of these decorative poles reused light foundations already installed whenever possible. The majority of light fixtures on the remaining two thirds of the project corridor, excluding intersection safety lighting, were replaced in June 2022 with different fixtures that are dimmer and cast less light outside of the roadway and sidewalks. In addition, backlight shields were installed on sidewalk light poles to further minimize light spill into neighboring yards. The pole replacements only occurred in median locations where a number of new poles were added. In areas where there were existing street light poles in the pre-project condition, only the fixture heads were replaced.