Idaho Falls slowly replacing old street lights with new LED’s

Chances are you’ve probably seen a few LED street lights as more and more cities and developers use them. Get ready to see a lot in Idaho Falls as the city slowly transitions from the old high pressure sodium street lights to the new high tech LED lights over the next few years.

“This is really a long term project,” said Matt Evans with Idaho Falls Power. “We’re doing it in conjunction with maintenance projects, when lights go bad, and all new construction is receiving LED’s.”

The new LED streetlights have two main advantages over older street lights. One, LED’s are far more energy efficient and will save the city on it’s power bill. Two, LED lights last longer and will require significantly less maintenance.

“We have about four-thousand street lights scattered throughout the city,” said Evans. “We spend somewhere around $280 thousand a year on street light costs. We expect those costs to go down by half.”

Evans said the city is also saving money on initial purchasing and installation costs as the Bonneville Power Administration is providing rebates for each light installed.

It will still be several years before all streets and neighborhoods have the new lights. Next year Idaho Falls will start installing LED’s on several of the city’s major roads including Boulevard, Holmes, Woodruff, Hoopes, and 25th E, all between 1st and 17th street.