City of Pueblo

Street Lighting Program

A New Technology

The City of Pueblo and Black Hills Energy are looking toward the future to save on energy costs, reduce greenhouse emissions, and provide better lighting for city roadways.

Currently, the City spends on average $1.7 million dollars a year for street lighting. In an effort to provide a more cost efficient and a higher quality service, the City is working with Black Hills Energy to reduce street lighting cost. The pilot project on Bonforte Boulevard has replaced 10 conventional streetlights with the new LED fixtures. The project will measure light output and energy savings.

What Are LED's?

LED is the acronym for Light Emitting Diode. This technology has been around since the 1960's, but has not become part of mainstream technology until recently. The cost of installation had been prohibitive and even today the upfront cost is substantial but once the installation is in place, the equipment uses less than 1/2 the energy of standard fixtures; therefore costing less to run. The bulbs also last 5 times longer than conventional bulbs, consequently, reducing the cost of maintenance. LED's are also advantageous as street lighting as the bulb produces a directional light thereby allowing more control over what is "lit" (the roadway) or just as important "not lit" (the night sky).

Where Are We Now?

The City has used LED traffic signal heads for almost ten years and has realized a savings of approximately 70% in energy costs as compared to the previously used incandescent fixtures. The traffic signal bulb replacement program has proven to be cost efficient as well as providing a significantly brighter traffic signal. The program has been very successful and motorists are pleased with the results. Currently, the City of Pueblo and Black Hills Energy are testing the technology and would like citizen participation in the form of comments, questions or concerns regarding the use of LED's.

Project Location

Bonforte Boulevard
from Highway 47 south to MacAlester Rd.

To comment on the test project please send an email to:
ledstreetlights@pueblo.us