Upgrading Dayton street lights

Five-year contract to cost $9.2M, provide consistent illumination.

City commissioners’ approval of two contracts is focused on improving lighting that isn’t bright enough and replacing some lights to install LED technology,

Two contracts recently awarded by the city of Dayton should improve the street lighting in some local neighborhoods and along some major thoroughfares.

Dayton commissioners approved a $9.2 million, five-year contract with Miami Valley Lighting to maintain and improve some of the 14,000 street lights it operates in the city.

Miami Valley Lighting will upgrade lights that are not bright enough and add lights where there are gaps between poles to create consistent levels of illumination, said Keith Steeber, chief engineer with the city.

Dayton commissioners also approved a $322,177 contract to replace city-owned street lights with LED technology along sections of about a dozen roadways across the city. The city owns about 5,000 street lights, including 1,200 that are LED.

The improvements will make roads and streets safer for motorists and pedestrians, Steeber said.

“It will make the streets brighter and will reduce our energy costs and it will reduce the amount of maintenance we have to do on the lights,” he said.

In 2014, the city approved creating a special street light

assessment program that charges property owners annual fees for lighting maintenance and improvements.

The assessment program will last for six years and was projected to generate $3 million annually.

Using $322,177 in special assessment funds, the city has hired Security Fence Group to replace street lamps along some highly traveled sections of road.

This includes South Patterson Boulevard near Old River Park; South Edwin C. Moses Boulevard near the University of Dayton Arena; and South Gettysburg Avenue near the Ohio 4 intersection. Security Fence Group will replace about 400 to 600 high-pressure-sodium lamps with LED technology, Steeber said.

LED lights last about 10 years, compared to the three- to five-year life span of the more traditional luminaries, officials said. They also reduce energy costs and can pay for themselves within about two years, officials said.

Miami Valley Lighting has about 30 LED streetlamps across the city and should add more in the future, Steeber said. The company overall will likely add about 300 street lights in the next five years, he said.

The city’s new contract with Miami Valley Lighting will keep annual costs at 2013 levels until 2018. The city’s payment will increase 5 percent in 2019 and then remain flat in 2020.

Dayton’s elected leaders said they would like to know where the darkest streets in the city are located and what impact adding lights has on neighborhood conditions.

Dayton City Commissioner Joey Williams said the city should consider making street lighting improvements in highercrime areas to increase visibility.