Chicago upgrades lighting at parks and facilities

Chicago has upgraded lighting at 160 parks, including famed Grant Park, the waterfront host to numerous summertime music festivals. Reducing energy consumption while increasing lighting and improving safety were the primary objectives of the $15 million, eight-month project.

At Grant Park, light levels were doubled while energy costs were lowered. The park’s 400-watt mercury vapor lamps were replaced with 150-watt high pressure sodium lamps, and its 390-foot light poles were reduced in height from 19 to 14 feet, thereby bringing the light closer to the ground.

At other Chicago Park District (CPD) parks, much of the upgrade involved replacing thousands of the 400-watt mercury vapor lamps with 150- to 400-watt, high-pressure sodium lamps. The replacements do not cycle intermittently on and off at the end of life, which makes detection of a failed lamp easier for maintenance crews. All of the lamps were Lumalux or Lumalux Plus, made by Osram Sylvania Products, Danvers, Mass. Additionally, the company’s Metalarc metal halide lamps were installed on many of the sports fields.

The parks’ previous outdoor lighting incorporated many different lamp types and fixture configurations, according to Rob Jones, project manager for the district’s resource conservation program. That potpourri has been reduced to about 15 different lamps.

A total of 13,000 fixtures was used on the project. Lighting levels were boosted about 10 to 15 percent, while energy consumption was reduced. To minimize disruption during installation, wire was buried using horizontal boring.

Remote, local or central access to controls by police and park officials is an added feature of the park lighting systems. Each park will have programmable panels that allow for zone control, 24-hour timing and authorized access. Each control panel uses mechanical latching relays to operate up to 48 input devices such as wall switches, occupancy sensors and photocells.

Each park supervisor has access to his or her control panel. If police suspect unlawful activity at a particular site, a 911 dispatcher can access the park’s security code and activate the lights within 20 seconds.

Aside from enhancing security, the control system enables the district to extend park operating hours and offer additional services such as nighttime softball and basketball. With the new system, the park district has better control over park facilities and more flexibility in setting schedules, according to Jones.