Developing a Rural and Urban Roadway Lighting Practical Design Guide for Iowa (TR 540)

Principal Investigator:

Neal Hawkins, hawkins@iastate.edu (other projects)

Co-Principal Investigator:

• Shauna Hallmark, shallmar@iastate.edu (other projects)
• Omar Smadi, smadi@iastate.edu (other projects)

Project Status: In Progress

Start Date: 08/01/2005
End Date: 05/31/2007


Research Objective: The proposed project will create a design guide that will be incorporated into SUDAS and will also provide a rural and urban application matrix which recommends where roadway lighting should be prioritized based upon roadway, land use, safety, and traffic conditions. The guide will also provide recommendations on dealing with glare from the lighting of parking lots and other areas outside of the roadway border. This work will create a standard design layout manual for use by state and local agencies as well as by contractors and consulting engineers.

Additionally the project will evaluate the criteria for when lighting is warranted at specific locations and when other solutions provide acceptable alternatives at those locations. The project will look at several key roadway types that are of the most interest to the research board, such as rural intersections. The safety benefits of lighting will be evaluated along with alternatives such as rumble strips, better signing, flashers, etc. Additional factors that impact the effectiveness of lighting such as configuration (destination versus full lighting), amount of luminance, and placement will be considered as well.

Research Plan: Working with a project advisory task force, this effort will quantify the benefits and costs of lighting, synthesize state of the practice in lighting standards, provide a complete overhaul of the roadway lighting reference material contained within SUDAS for both rural and urban roadways.

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