Street Lighting
LED Street Light Conversion Project
Saskatoon Light & Power (SL&P) has converted over 22,000 fixtures from HPS to LED; this represents about 80% of SL&P’s street lighting inventory.
The City of Saskatoon illuminates all roadways (except back alleys) and has approximately 35,000 lights. The principal purpose of street lighting is to allow accurate and comfortable visibility at night of possible hazards in sufficient time to allow for appropriate action. For a pedestrian, this can mean better visibility of their surroundings and sidewalk, while for the driver of a motor vehicle it will mean having time to stop or maneuver around an obstacle. Good lighting has been shown to significantly reduce the number of accidents at night, especially on urban freeways and on major streets. For most streets and sidewalks, good lighting has been reported to increase the feeling of personal security of pedestrians.
The purpose of roadway lighting is to:
- Facilitate the safe movement of vehicles and pedestrians;
- Reduce nighttime accidents;
- Raise a sense of personal security; and
- Encourage the nighttime use of the area.
Report a Street Light Outage
- Use the street light outage map to notify us of a street light outage.
- Street lights are represented with a light bulb symbol inside an orange circle.
- To report an outage:
- Find the street light by clicking “Locate Me” if using a GPS supported device, or by entering an address (street, city or town, or postal code) in the search bar.
- Click on the street light icon and an information box appears that contains details on the light and status if it has been previously reported.
- If the street light needs to be reported, click the “Report this Light” button to report the problem. If a light has been previously reported, this button will not be available, and the street light icon will have a diagonal line through it.
- Complete the required information in the form. If you wish to receive status updates, be sure to select the “Send Me Update” checkbox and enter your email address.
- Click the “Report” button and the street light icon will change to a light bulb with a diagonal line through it.
Saskatoon Light & Power deals with customer service requests as quickly as possible and strives to complete a repair within 3 business days. More complex issues such underground cable faults may take more than 3 business days to address. If the maintenance crew cannot resolve the light repair on the first visit, a specialized crew will be dispatched to complete the repair or install a temporary overhead wire to restore lighting.
Lighting Safety
Roadway lighting allows timely, accurate, and safe visibility at night.
- Allowing for the safe movement of vehicles and pedestrians;
- Reducing potential accidents;
- Raising a sense of personal security; and
- Encouraging nighttime use of areas.
Roadway and pathway lighting is designed to meet the Illumination Engineering Society of North America Guidelines (IES RP-8 Roadway and Parking Facility Lighting).
Street Light Maintenance
Two service providers own and maintain street lights in Saskatoon: SaskPower with approximately 6,000 lights, and Saskatoon Light & Power (SL&P) with approximately 29,000 lights. The SL&P Lighting Boundary Map indicates the areas that are served by the two providers.
Park and Pathway Lighting
The City of Saskatoon, Parks Department, determines if lighting is warranted in parks and on pathways. Saskatoon Light & Power designs, installs and maintains the lighting systems in all parks and on pathways. Requests for additional lighting are to be directed to Parks at 306-975-3300.
Street Lighting Standards
The designs for roadway lighting systems in Saskatoon are based on the latest edition of Illuminating Engineering Society of North America’s guidelines for roadway lighting (RP-8). These guidelines establish appropriate lighting levels, visibility levels and uniformity of lighting levels for a given class and operational characteristics of a roadway. Characteristics that are considered are traffic volume, speed, and pedestrian usage.
Types of Light Sources
The City currently has three types of light sources in use: high pressure sodium; metal halide, and light emitting diode fixtures.
These light sources have two performance characteristics: correlated colour temperature (CCT), and the colour rendition index (CRI). CCT is a measure of light source colour appearance (see colour chart below) and CRI is the ability of a light source to represent colours in objects, with a scale of 0 to 100. The higher the CRI the more vibrant or close to natural the colours of objects appear.
High Pressure Sodium (HPS)
HPS used to be the most common light source. It has a correlated colour temperature of 2700 degrees kelvin and a colour rendition index of 30. The light appears orange/yellow in colour. HPS lamps have a very long life of approximately 30,000 hours or 7.5 years.
Metal Halide (MH)
MH is used in the River Landing area and on toboggan hills. It has a CCT of 4000 degrees kelvin and a CRI of 70. The light appears white in colour with the lamp shifting towards pink near end of life. MH lamps have a relatively short life of approximately 10,000 hours or 2.5 years.
Light Emitting Diode (LED)
LED are currently being installed to replace the HPS and MH light sources. They consume approximately 60% less energy and are expected to last about 20 years. The original test area in Evergreen has a CCT of 5000 degrees kelvin and are blue-white in colour. The City of Saskatoon learned from the test area that action needs to be taken to minimize sky glow and to reduce the impact of lighting on wildlife and the circadian rhythm of humans. This was achieved by following the recommendations of the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA). In 2014, a CCT of 4100 degrees kelvin that is white in colour was selected to meet the IDA requirements and was commercially available at the time. In 2017, IDA released new requirements and a CCT of 3000 degrees kelvin that is yellow-white in colour has been in use since. These LED lights have a CRI of 70.
Hours of Street Light Operation
The City's street light circuits are controlled by photoelectric sensors that sense the amount of ambient light. These sensors turn on street lights beginning approximately 30 minutes after sunset until sunrise. The exact time that this occurs is dependent upon the location and placement of the sensor.
Some park lights in Aspen Ridge have photoelectric sensors that also have timers to reduce usage during non-peak times. These lights turn on at sunset, off at midnight, back on at 5:00 a.m., and back off at sunrise.
If you have a street light that is not turning on or is operating during the day, use the street light outage map to notify us or call us at 306-975-2414.
Light Pollution
Light pollution is wasted light. It can be recognized as the following:
- Sky Glow - the glow above cities at night
- Light Trespass - unwanted light going onto private properties
- Glare - harsh, bright light shining into the eyes
The City’s new LED street lights are International Dark-Sky Association compliant. This means that they are 3000 degrees kelvin and do not emit any light above 90 degrees. The optics of the street lights are designed such that the light is better directed to the roadway, reducing the amount of light trespass.
Installing Exterior Lighting at Your Home or Business
Light Emitting Diode (LED) lighting has become the norm for most lighting applications. When installed correctly exterior lighting can provide a positive experience in the space. Please consider the following when looking to add exterior lighting to your home or business.
Be Kind to Your Neighbours
Don’t aim the lights on neighbouring properties. The largest lighting complaint is light trespass. Use a full cut-off fixture and avoid using floodlights as they throw light in all directions
Be Kind to the Environment
Consider following the recommendations of the International Dark-Sky Association which is to use a light source of 3000 degrees kelvin that is yellow-white in colour and fully shielded to prevent light from being emitted into the night sky. Avoid the use of the white and blue-white LEDs for outdoor applications.
Don’t Over Light
An over-lit entrance can introduce dark areas adjacent to the entrance. The human eye is not able to adapt to both the very high light levels and very low light levels at the same time. Strive for even lighting over the entire space, avoiding the bright and dark spots, which will allow the eye to adapt very quickly to the low light levels.
Controls
Automatic controls for your light can be accomplished with a simple photoelectric control. Additional controls can be added to turn on the lights when someone is in the space using proximity sensors. More advanced controls can dim or increase the lighting levels when someone enters or leaves a space.
No matter what light fixture or controls that you wish to use, remember to use a qualified electrician and obtain the appropriate permits to ensure that you have installed a system that is both functional and safe.
Decorative Lighting
The Decorative Lighting Program provides lit and unlit seasonal decorations on street light poles in many of Saskatoon’s major commercial areas in the winter season.
Saskatoon Light & Power (SL&P) completes the installation of the decorations by November 11, turns them on by November 15, and operates the lighting from dusk to dawn. The decorations are turned off and removed after the spring equinox.
The Decorative Lighting Program provides a welcoming place and street activation, supporting the Winter City Strategy by providing more lighting to make the darker winter season more inviting and beautiful. Decoration designs are selected by Community Services – Urban Design Group in consultation with SL&P and the Business Improvement Districts.
