4 Considerations for Lighting a Pathway

For city authorities, private homeowners, park managers and outdoor car park managers, creating inviting, well lit, pathways is a simple yet significant way to make people feel safer. Install an effective lighting system is a better way to increase the safety of pathways. Here are 4 main things to consider for effective pathway lighting.

1: Consider the Lighting Environment.

Before installing a pathway light, there should be a proper environmental assessment to ensure that local ecology won’t be negatively affected by the pathway street lighting.

2: Consider the Lighting Type.

There are three common lighting types on pathway street lighting. Wired lighting usually requires little maintenance, but it is expensive to install. And it may not be permitted to install in riparian corridors or anywhere causing environmental disruption. Battery-powered lighting may be cheaper and easier to repair, but it requires frequent maintenance for battery changes.

Compared to wired lighting and battery-powered lighting, solar-powered lighting is the easiest to install. With no trenching required for cables, it is eco-friendly and simple to maintain.

3: Consider the Lighting Placement and Design.

Solar-powered pathway lights are reliable as long as they are sized correctly for the location and are not heavily shaded by trees or structures. They are designed to be scaled effectively for pathway use and help minimize light pollution.

4: Consider Who will Be Installing and Maintaining the Lights

Choosing lights for the end-users and choosing lights that will be economical to install and maintain are two things. It is necessary to run a cost comparison before installing the solar-powered pathway light.

Meanwhile, long-term maintenance costs can be a challenge for local governments with budgets already stretched thin. For wired lights, a problem may cause a whole string to go out. For battery-powered lights, the maintenance team may be out changing batteries more frequently
than they would like if the lights are not configured properly. With solar-powered lights, there is maintenance still required like any other
lighting solutions, however, if lithium-ion batteries are used and the technology is high quality, then maintenance is minimal.