Design Guide – Road Lighting

YOUR GUIDE TO RECOMMENDED ROAD LIGHTING LEVELS

CODE OF PRACTICE : BS EN 13201 Summary

Luminance Data Illuminance Data

L ave Uo Ul Min Tl Max SR E av E Min
(cd/m2) Min (Lux) (Lux)
Category Notes
(%)
Min.
Maintained

Motorways
ME1 2 0.4 0.7 10 0.5
Dry Road Surface
Condition. TI- An increase
Traffic Routes of 5 p[oints is allowed
ME2 1.5 0.4 0.7 10 0.5 where low luminance
light sources are used. SR
ME3a 1 0.4 0.7 15 0.5
only applied where no
ME3b 1 0.4 0.6 15 0.5 traffic areas with their
ME3c 1 0.4 0.5 15 0.5 own requirements
ME4a 0.75 0.4 0.6 15 0.5 adjacent.
ME4b 0.75 0.4 0.5 15 0.5
ME5 0.5 0.35 0.4 15 0.5
ME6 0.3 0.35 0.4 15 N/A

Class Actual value of E av must

S1 15 5 not exceed 1.5 x Target E
S2 10 3 av illuminance ie S5
S3 7.5 1.5 actual value must not be
greater then 4/5 lux
S4 5 1
S5 3 0.6
S6 2 0.6

Conflict Area ‘Conflict Areas’ eg

CE0 0.4 50 Shopping Streets,
CE1 0.4 30 Intersections
CE2 0.4 20 Roundabouts, Queing
Areas, Pedestrian etc.
CE3 0.4 15
CE4 0.4 10
CE5 0.4 7.5

General
The five main areas of consideration when designing for Industry Lightings are:
1. Lighting design.
2. Lighting Requirement
3. Lighting Control
4 The Lighting Character
Lighting Design
This presentation contains extracts from various parts of BS 5489
and it should not be taken as a substitute for the standard, where
additional technical explanation can be found. This presentation
has been assembled and additionally annotated to provide a
"ready-reckoner" as a start on road lighting layout design to suit
the new CEN based British Standard.

As outlined in the Road Lighting Theory section, lighting of the

carriageway differs from the lighting of a room or a sports area in
that it is quite impossible to directly light all the objects on the
carriageway. However, advantage is taken of the reflective
characteristics of the road when it is illuminated at glancing
angles of incidence.

An individual lantern suspended over the carriageway and

viewed by a driver provides a light patch on the carriageway Figure 1. 'T shape bright area
resembling the shape of a T. produced by a single lantern

The tail always points in the direction of an individual observer whether they be vehicle driver or
pedestrian. As the lantern mounting height is raised the patch becomes larger, more diffused and less
bright.

By producing a bright road surface, objects are seen in silhouette, i.e. black or dark objects against a
light background. The object of a good street lighting installation is to provide an evenly bright road,
by coalescing these bright patches. The overall and longitudinal uniformity ratios are measures of the
quality of this coalescing.

MOUNTING HEIGHTS (see par 5.2.2)

The mounting heights, for the old term "Group A" lighting, to be adopted should be chosen from the
nominal values of 8m, 10m, 12m or 15m. Restriction on kerb overhang is necessary so that edges of
roads and pavements provide a contrast tine between road and footpath. The tendency to design
installations with luminaires over the road, as in many older designed main roads, is no longer valid
and using negative overhang, i.e. lanterns behind the kerb increases the surround ratio, and
sometimes the average luminance, which assists in providing better visual information.

SITING (see par 5.2.1)

Columns to be set back clear of kerb at least 1.5m but may be reduced in urban areas to l.25m
minimum at 40 mph and 0.8m at: 30 mph. Siting near kerb increases accident potential, however, the
main objective in design is to plan, laterally, ie. where the luminaire requires to be, relative to the kerb,
and set out the column position afterwards. Care is required to suit partially sighted requirements on
all footpaths.

Where staggered arrangement is in use on straight sections of the road a change to a row of lanterns
on the outside of the curve is required when the radius of curvature is less than about 80 times the
mounting height. For the recommended mounting heights, the critical radius of curvature is:

Mounting Height
Critical Radius of Curvature 10m 12m
800m 960m

For the spacing between the lanterns on the outside of uniform curves the straight road spacing can
be retained for checking with Iso luminance templates, provided that these values are not greater
than the calculated spacing for straight sections of the road. In the case of a bend of variable
curvature, it is more convenient to use an Iso luminance template. Where the effective width of the
road exceeds 1.2 times the mounting height, the inside of the curve may be unduly dark if only the
outside row of lanterns is used, additional lanterns should, therefore, be sited on the inside of the
curve in the gaps shown by the overlays. (Placing opposite alternate lanterns in the outside row will
improve the appearance but care should be taken to ensure that the uniformity requirements are
achieved).

DEFINITIONS
These definitions give added explanation to those given in BS 5489 Part 1.
BS 5489 par 4.2.3 - Surround Ratio (SR) (see also EN 13201-3 par 8.6)
The ratio of flux falling on both 5m strips behind the kerbs, to the adjacent 5m strips on the road side of
the kerbs. This ratio must be greater than 0.5. When the carriageway is less than 10 metres wide the
strips can be reduced to % the carriageway width. These dimensions should be automatically
adjusted in the software calculation algorithm. When lanterns are set well back, the surround ratio
increases.

BS 5489 section 6.4.4 - Maintenance Factor (MF)

The "maintained average" is the average illuminance or luminance value, which the installation will
not fall below through time prior to a maintenance intervention to change the lamp and carry out
luminaire cleaning.

The maintenance factor is the product of the following two depreciating factors:
(a) which allows for the depreciation in the photometric performance of a lantern from its
state when new to its least acceptable state in service and
(b) the depreciation in the initial light output from the lamp.

BS 5489 par 5.2.3.3 - Bracket Projection

The horizontal distance from the point of entry to the lantern, to a vertical line passing through the
centre of the cross section of the column at the ground level. Column manufacturers use this length
for ordering.

The term "projection" should not be confused, as it has been in the new edition of BS5489, with the
term called overhang which relates to the position of the luminaire relative to the kerb line.

BS 5489 old edition - Lighting Design Lumens (now redundant term)

The nominal light output at 2,000 hours life from a bare lamp and associated with previous editions of
BS 5489 prior to the introduction of maintained levels concept.

This value should not be confused with the initial lumens (at 100 hours) used in the current edition of BS
5489 and also current software calculation predictions.

JUNCTIONS
These should be laid out, together with lighting on bends, after calculating the design spacing for the
straight road but before the generality of locating lighting on the straight section. Junctions are
typical "conflict areas" and may require a separate calculation to confirm conformity if the
recommended layout settings described on the following pages have been exceeded due to site
constraints.

It is important that the driver's attention should be drawn to junctions. They are revealed best when
lanterns are placed behind the kerbs and so sited that the riser of the kerb of the cross road is seen as
a dark line crossing the pavement and the returns of the fences or buildings at the junctions appear
clearly different in brightness from those in the driver's road. These conditions are brought about if
lanterns are placed just beyond the junction. Lanterns placed before the junction and lanterns
mounted centrally tend to make the junction inconspicuous. The uninterrupted lengths of the straight
road are then determined, bearing in mind calculated maximum spacing.
'T' JUNCTIONS Annex J

Four lights are directly associated

with the junction and typical
positions are shown in sketch to
right. (Figure 2)
A light A on the main road, directly
in line with the approaching traffic
on the stem road serves to reveal
the end of the stem road to traffic
approaching along it and to reveal
pedestrians crossing its mouth.
Figure 2 'T Junction Layout

A light B on the main road, at a distance from the kerb of the stem road approximately equal to one-
third of the design spacing along the head road, and preferably not greater than 12m. This light
serves to reveal the junction with the stem road to traffic in the main road (approaching from the
right in Figure2),or to reveal a vehicle waiting in the mouth of the stem road.

DESIGN GUIDE – ROAD LIGHTING

A light C on the main road, at not more than the design spacing from light A and preferably at a
distance from the kerb of the stem road of about one-half of the design spacing along the main
road. This light serves to reveal turning movements to traffic in the main road (approaching from the
left in Figure2).

A light D on the stem road on the left hand side for traffic leaving the junction at a distance from the
kerb of the main road of about one-half of the main road design spacing measured along the stem
road. This light serves to reveal the traffic and pedestrian conditions in the mouth of the stem road to
traffic entering form the main road.

Staggered 'T' Junctions J.3

Two 'T junctions on opposite sides of the main road should

be considered independently in the first instance.

If they are close together, less than about 60m apart,

compromise positions may be chosen for light C in Figure
3, but taking care that this does not reduce the standard
of lighting

Figure 3 Staggered 'T'

Junction Layout
Cross-Roads J.4

Typical lighting positions for a rectangular crossing are shown in Figure 4(below)
On each road, there should be a light A on the nearside
for traffic leaving the junction and at a distance from the
kerb of the cross-roads approximately equal to
one-third of the normal spacing. These four lights should
be of the same type and mounted at the same height.
The distance of one-third spacing may have to be
reduced if the cross-roads is wide, it may also have to be
adjusted if there is a pedestrian crossing.

The spacing between the four lights should not be greater than the design spacing along either road
so that the illumination level on the junction is not less than that on the approach roads. The lights A
serve to reveal crossing and turning traffic.

The next light B, on each road, on the off-side for traffic leaving the junction should be at not more
than two-thirds of the design spacing from A and it should be at not less than one-third of the design
spacing from the kerb of the cross-roads.

Junctions on Bends J.2

The requirements for a 'T" Junction with a curved head road are somewhat different from those for
junctions as illustrated in Figure 3.

If the stem road is on the outside of the bend, the T

junction technique illustrated in Figure2 should be
adopted. The distance between lights B and C should not
exceed the appropriate spacing for a bend. If the
curvature is sharp, the distance of light B from the kerb of
the stem road may be reduced to one-quarter of the
spacing.

If the stem road is on the inside of the bend, the junction

should be lit in two stages, firstly as a bend, with one of the
lights on the outer kerb in a position corresponding to the
light A in Figure 2, and secondly as a 'T junction with lights
in positions corresponding to lights B and D in Figure2. The
light at B may be omitted if the iso luminance template
overlaps show it to be unnecessary. The light C, as in Figure
2, is not generally required.Figure 2, is not generally
required.

Roundabouts J.8

Roundabouts present two distinct problems:-

1. To ensure that oncoming drivers are made aware of their presence and layout, in good time
to take appropriate action.
2. To provide adequate visibility for drivers when they enter the roundabout, are negotiating it, or
turning out of it. Here the mechanics of the eye changes and direct illumination is required.

A roundabout layout is very difficult to 'read' from a distance, particularly from the distance necessary
for vehicles approaching fast. The island may, in itself, be invisible if it is sited on a crest and may be
read as part of the road ahead in some configurations. The first requirement, therefore, is to ensure
that the driver sees that there is an island there.

In many cases, the best indication of the presence of the 1.5 cd/m2 example of lead in
island is a suitably illuminated sign, one for each approach
road, placed on the island, and of a construction that will
not seriously damage a vehicle, if stuck. It must be of such
a size and luminosity as to be unmistakable against its
background from a distance appropriate to the likely
speed of approach. The roundabout itself should be lit by
lanterns round the outside and sited so that they will help
to reveal clearly the apparent corners, which the driver
has to negotiate.

road

The maintained average illuminance requirements on all roundabouts can vary, depending on the
highest luminance quality of the approaching road. In the example given above, at least one of the
approaching roads is lit to 1.5cd/m2 and the conflict area requirements would therefore be set to
provide a maintained average of 30 lux with a minimum uniformity ratio of 0.4. This infers that the
absolute spot minimum illuminance on any part of the roundabout road surface should be not less
than 12 lux. Refer to BS EN 32001 Part 1 for other related values of road surface maintained
illuminance in conflict areas.

When carrying out calculation predictions of the roundabout illuminance, remember to start with the
contribution of light from the approaching road luminaires, it can sometimes save adding
unnecessary units to the roundabout. Ensure that a regular spacing round the roundabout is
maintained and try to avoid placing columns on small splitter islands. The small splitter islands and
adjacent footpaths should be included in the calculation and not masked off.

Conflict Area
All roundabouts and junctions can be considered to be a Conflict Area with roundabouts, whether
large or small, always requiring a calculation process due to the varied nature of the associated
lighting arrangement. If the spacing recommendations at junction arrangements have been followed
there may not be a need to carry out a calculation for every junction, however, if there has been a
departure from the standard layout a calculation will be essential to confirm compliance.

Table 2 – CE series of lighting clases

Horizontal Illuminance
Class E in lx Uo
(Minimum maintained) (minimum)
CEO 50 0.4
CE1 30 0.4
CE2 20 0.4
CE3 15 0.4
CE4 10 0.4
CE5 7.5 0.4

Example of the application Lighting Classes in conflict areas where luminance is not applicable.
CONFLICT AREA ILLUMINANCE LIGHTING CLASS
Roundabouts with no signals:
complex or large
medium complexity CE1
simple or small CE2
CE3
Queuing areas:
Complex or large
medium complexity CE1
small or simple CE3
CE5

For more information, please refer to CEN/TR 13201-1.