High Mast Poles
Lighting Poles Illuminate the Path of Drivers
It is a fact that night driving is more dangerous than daytime driving. Night vision is reduced even when a vehicle's headlights are on. Lighting poles are one of the tools road engineers use to help increase drivers' visibility. Provides a safer environment for drivers when properly designed and used.
What is High Mast Lighting?
High mast lighting is standard for lighting masts with heights typically ranging from 18 to 45 meters. Low road lighting poles illuminate the road from a height of 7 to 15 meters above the asphalt.
High light poles for highways have their origins in Europe in the 1950s. High mast light systems began to be built in the United States as the US interstate road system began to expand with roads providing higher travel speeds and more complex, multi-level intersections.
How to Design High Mast Lights
The typical tall light mast is inserted 4 to 7 meters or more into the ground, depending on the geotechnical characteristics of the installation site. It has a concrete foundation with an average diameter of 5 meters. The number and size of the anchor bolts connecting the light post to the concrete foundation is a function of the structural design. The light pole itself is usually galvanized or reinforced steel.
The lights, technically known as luminaires, are attached to a luminaire ring. The number of lights in this luminaire ring in mast lighting can range from two to 12 depending on the photometrics required. Fixtures are generally 400 to 1,000 watts and use high pressure sodium (HPS) high intensity discharge.
At the base of the light pole, most pole models have a motorized winch that raises and lowers the luminaire ring via a steel cable system.
For years, HPS luminaires were a cost-effective solution but provided an orangeish glow. Similar to typical incandescent and fluorescent lamps used in homes, this form of lighting requires costly maintenance and is inefficient in outdoor conditions. HPS luminaires are being replaced by LED type lights, which are more energy efficient and produce the white light (color temperature between 3,000k and 5,000k) that people prefer.
The lenses in the fixtures are precisely grooved to produce different light patterns, ranging from a full circle to a long and narrow oval. Different luminaires are classified according to their light patterns and are used in photometric design to direct light and intensity to specific areas.
What are the Advantages of High Lighting Pole?
The high mast lighting has advantages over traditional normal type lighting:
Higher mounted lamps provide a more visible and homogeneous light area for the driver.
High light poles can be placed outside of the open area further from the edge of the curb, reducing the chance of collisions and providing a safer workplace for workers when maintenance work is in progress. Conventional light poles are often located in the open field and often need to be replaced due to collisions at road bends and intersection ramps.
A strategically placed high lighting pole can replace 10 to 15 traditional poles.
Unlike traditional road light poles, maintenance workers do not have to close the traffic lane and work alongside traffic when servicing high light poles.
High mast lighting is more suitable than conventional lighting at complex intersections where a well-lit area can help the driver make quicker and more timely decisions.
So Are There Any Disadvantages of High Mast Lighting?
One of the disadvantages of high mast lighting is excess light power. The lighting is usually 36 meters above the ground. The resulting cone of light affects nearby residential areas. As population and traffic increased, the once rural intersections became more urbanized with commercial and residential developments. Homeowners and homeowners often tend to complain about the light from tall lampposts. In order to prevent these complaints, shields that direct the light directly down can be attached to the lights used in the lighting pole so that they do not disturb people in residential areas.
Are High Mast Lighting Poles Safe?
Depar Energy experts regularly inspect the lighting poles they have installed. Galvanized poles need to be inspected every five years and weatherproof steel poles every two years.
The main structural elements to be examined are the foundation, anchor bolts, steel base plate and steel post and joints. High mast light mast design has improved significantly over the past 20 years and fatigue cracking is rarely an issue anymore. The biggest issues are corrosion, loose anchor bolts and structural thinning, with secondary mechanical/electrical systems issues. The biggest challenge is access to post foundations, as they are often built at the edges of steep slopes or at large intersections in areas with dense vegetation.
