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New Streets Lights To Be Demonstrated In 7 Neighborhoods

CHICAGO (CBS) -- A new street light system featuring higher quality and longer lasting lights will be demonstrated beginning Monday night in seven Chicago neighborhoods.

The streetlight demonstration's goal is to collect feedback from residents that will be used as part of the Chicago Smart Lighting Project. WBBM's Andy Dahn reports.

"Chicago has one of the largest lighting systems in the United States, but also one of the oldest," Emanuel said. "So it's due for an upgrade to LED lighting, which will last longer than traditional lights and also use about half as much electricity."

Mayor Emanuel is taking steps towards a 'next-generation streetlight system' said to bring higher-quality and more-reliable lights to every neighborhood.

The city lighting modernization initiative will replace 270,000 outdated lamps with modern, energy-efficient LED lights, over the next four years.

"The new streetlights will last two-to-three-times longer than the existing streetlights, and will include a new system that will automatically notify the city when a light goes out, eliminating the need for calls to 3-1-1 to report outages," according to a Mayoral announcement from the City of Chicago.

The seven neighborhoods selected for the demonstration will preview new lighting over one arterial street, one residential block and one alley.

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Chicago Smart Lighting demonstration locations (Credit: City of Chicago)

Residents are asked to provide feedback by visiting www.chicagodot.org through Dec. 31. The feedback will be used to select the final lights that will appear on streets throughout Chicago, beginning next year.

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