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More Community Corner Warning lights set up in crosswalk
In what will serve as an informal pilot program for the city as a whole, the University of Massachusetts-Lowell has installed high-tech pedestrian-safety devices at a crosswalk on the school’s campus.
The Lowell City Council in April approved plans by the university to install what is known as the LightGuard System, consisting of a series of street-level amber lights that are activated when a pedestrian passes between a pair of sensor-embedded bollards before entering the intersection. The lights, known as light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, cast a glow visible to motorists hundreds of feet away.
Roger Hall, the project coordinator in the university’s Facilities Department, said the equipment purchased from California-based LightGuard System Inc. cost between $30,000 and $35,000. But because another project was already underway on the same stretch of road, the university was able to avoid what would have been an additional $35,000 to $40,000 required to install the street-level lights.
Ann Barton, the deputy director in Lowell’s Division of Planning and Development, said that when the City Council gave the university the green light to install the LightGuard system, one councillor requested that the department begin looking into installing the system elsewhere in the city. But Barton said that her department first wants to see how the LightGuard system, which is more commonly deployed on the West Coast, endures the New England climate.
The concern is that maintenance costs could be extensive. Hall said that snowplows, for example, could pose a threat to the rims that hold the LED lights in place.
More Community Corner Warning lights set up in crosswalk
Warning lights set up in crosswalk
In what will serve as an informal pilot program for the city as a whole, the University of Massachusetts-Lowell has installed high-tech pedestrian-safety devices at a crosswalk on the school’s campus.
The Lowell City Council in April approved plans by the university to install what is known as the LightGuard System, consisting of a series of street-level amber lights that are activated when a pedestrian passes between a pair of sensor-embedded bollards before entering the intersection. The lights, known as light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, cast a glow visible to motorists hundreds of feet away.
Roger Hall, the project coordinator in the university’s Facilities Department, said the equipment purchased from California-based LightGuard System Inc. cost between $30,000 and $35,000. But because another project was already underway on the same stretch of road, the university was able to avoid what would have been an additional $35,000 to $40,000 required to install the street-level lights.
Ann Barton, the deputy director in Lowell’s Division of Planning and Development, said that when the City Council gave the university the green light to install the LightGuard system, one councillor requested that the department begin looking into installing the system elsewhere in the city. But Barton said that her department first wants to see how the LightGuard system, which is more commonly deployed on the West Coast, endures the New England climate.
The concern is that maintenance costs could be extensive. Hall said that snowplows, for example, could pose a threat to the rims that hold the LED lights in place.
Written by MMA Associate Editor Mitch Evich
