On Monday, the city of Phoenix starts converting streetlights to LED lights in earnest.
Phoenix converted a small fraction of lights in the downtown area to LED over the summer. The plan now is to change all of the city’s 100,000 streetlights, neighborhood by neighborhood.
Monica Hernandez, spokeswoman for Phoenix’s Street Transportation Department, said workers will try to keep disruptions to a minimum.
“In the neighborhood [areas], we will be working during the day,” she said. Light replacement on major roadways will happen at night “to avoid some of the heavier traffic volumes.”
Hernandez also said the lights will look different. “With the LED conversion, we get away from the darkish orange. This is a more balanced tone.”
Cities around the country are converting to more efficient LED street lights as a way to save money on energy and repairs. Phoenix says it’ll save $22 million through the year 2030.
Residents can track the progress on a special website that shows all city street lights. Work is expected to take a couple of years.
