The City of Los Angeles’ Choice For Solar Bike Path Lighting

SOLTECH’s SUNLIKE 30W 3000K CCT fixture was recently approved by the City of Los Angeles for bike path applications. SOLTECH is also the only solar lighting manufacturer approved by the city and the only manufacturer to be approved for bike paths. With SOLTECH’s recent approval, it highlights the importance of outdoor lighting design. Given the significant miles of bike paths, greenways, and parks, it is difficult and expensive to install traditional on-grid lighting in such areas. In contrast, SOLTECH’s solar lights can work optimally, are easy to install, and extremely inexpensive when compared to traditional lighting.

Why care about outdoor lighting?

Cities are taking their outdoor lighting more seriously in recent years. Below are some of the reasons why outdoor lighting is so important for not only bikeways, but in general for cities.

Injury: According to a former bicycle coordinator, Bruce Mackey, more than 60 percent of fatal bike accidents occur after 6 PM. This is because there is not enough illumination to help the rider see any potential obstacles in the path. Bikers should be able to go riding into the night without worrying about injuring themselves. Therefore, many cities are beginning to take lighting on bikeways more seriously.  This helps reduce liability for cities.

Between 2017 and 2018, the number of nighttime fatalities rose 4.6 percent for pedestrians and 9.2 percent for cyclists. This is consistent with longer-term trends: Nighttime crashes accounted for more than 90 percent of the total increase in pedestrian deaths between 2007 and 2017, according to a report by the Governors Highway Safety Association.

Accessibility: In Winter months, illumination on pathways and parks are even more important. During the winter months, the sun goes down early, and the nights are much longer. Due to limited visibility, most citizens choose not to engage in as many outdoor activities during this time. According to the National Park Service, the average time of sundown in January 2020 was 5:30 PM. Unless cities take lighting seriously, most parks will be left unused for over half the year. 

Safety: Everyone who lives in a city knows, once it is nighttime, it is important to be careful. That is because criminals tend to use the darkness and silence of the night to prey on victims. When cities enact urban planning decisions, cities make great efforts to illuminate darker and less safe areas of the city. A major study found outdoor lighting can cut crime by 39%, specifically, in the most severe “index crimes”  (murder, rape, car theft, etc.)

Why are solar lights optimal?

Theft-resistant: With traditional on-grid outdoor lighting, there have been problems in the past with the copper wiring being stolen from underground. In fact, back in 2007, Los Angeles had a problem where 700 streetlights were out due to thieves taking the wires. In contrast, solar lights require no wiring and are more difficult to steal. 

Cost-efficient: Switching to solar lighting can help reduce both the city’s carbon footprint, operating costs, and legal liability. Solar lights are not dependent on any electric grid, rather they are connected to solar panels or photovoltaic modules that absorb sunlight during the day and store it in a battery. This allows the fixture to work autonomously, separate from the city grid, lowering electricity costs to nothing.

No trenching: In addition to the amount of electricity costs normally saved by switching to off-grid lighting, like SOLTECH’s solar lights, the installation costs are also much lower. This is because there is no wiring nor trenching that needs to be done. This is especially true for bikeways. For example, The payout per linear foot of trenching can cost up to  $12. 

For example, the Arroyo Seco bicycle path in Los Angeles is over 2 miles long. To install on-grid lighting throughout the path, the city would need to do trenching and install cabling. As an estimate, this would cost the city up to $126,720 in trenching costs alone. 

Los Angeles 

In a typical, California big city, such as Los Angeles, it is common to see greenways, parks, and bike paths all around the city. There are over 50 bike paths in the county of Los Angeles that total approximately 245 miles in length. L.A. also currently has 11 protected bike facilities, totaling 19.4 lane miles.  This demonstrates a strong biking community in Los Angeles that could benefit greatly from SOLTECH’s solar lighting. 

SOLTECH’s Experience

Ella Fitzgerald Park: In Detroit, Michigan, SOLTECH helped the city in its ambitious Fitzgerald Revitalization Project. The City of Detroit wanted to add a greenway for the residents of the Fitzgerald neighborhood to enjoy along with Ella Fitzgerald Park. The city needed an area lighting solution for the greenway. SOLTECH provided a solar solution with 50+ SUNLIKE 30W fixtures. Because of the solar lighting solution offered by SOLTECH, the City of Detroit was able to save a significant portion of their budget by avoiding wiring and ditch-digging needed for traditional on-grid lighting solutions. If you would like to learn more, click here to read more about this ambitious project.