Highways England’s bright idea for motorway lighting in Yorkshire

Highways England has proved it’s switched on to innovative lighting ideas after carrying out a series of improvements which could save more than 700 tonnes of carbon a year – enough to power 20,000 homes.

In a national first, contractors working for Highways England worked with specialists to adapt technology used for architectural ornamental lighting, such as monuments and halls, for use on motorways and major A roads.

The improvement work took place on the M62 near Huddersfield and Halifax (junction 22 to 25), and the M621 near Leeds - replacing 1,618 street lights with modern efficient LED lighting units.

The new lighting is 53% more efficient saving the equivalent energy of powering the homes of 20,000 people and 389,000 loads of washing.

The project also included upgrading street lighting power supply equipment on both roads and the installation of a remote monitoring system which allows contractors to remotely control the lights.

The newly-installed LED lights require no routine maintenance, which means less disruption for drivers.

Highways England service delivery team leader for Yorkshire and Humber, Mark Ramsden, said;

"This is a true example of taking innovation from another industry, modifying it for the highways sector, and improving value by locking in safety, customer, cost efficiencies and environment benefits.

"We have replaced the conventional lighting with the newly developed lighting to provide bright, effective illumination to highways and road signs – reducing maintenance and road closures for drivers."