Streetlights | City of Colorado Springs

The City and Colorado Springs Utilities work together to provide streetlight services to residents of Colorado Springs. The City pays about $4 million annually for Springs Utilities to operate and maintain more than 30,000 streetlights.

The mission of the City and Springs Utilities streetlights team is to own, efficiently operate and maintain and continuously improve the streetlight system, which is comprised of street lighting and associated infrastructure for all public streets within the municipal limits of the City of Colorado Springs.

View an interactive map of the City’s streetlights

How do we efficiently operate and maintain the streetlight system?

Our small but effective streetlights team responds to over 500 streetlights issues per month. Springs Utilities conducts night runs on 25 major arterial routes twice per year, resolving any issues they find. Residents can also report streetlight issues. The vast majority of streetlights issues the team resolves fall in one of the three categories below:

Outages

As streetlights burn out, the streetlights team replaces them. We do not automatically receive outage information, so please report streetlight outages when you see them. We do not intend for any streetlights to be out anywhere in the City.

Knockdowns

Occasionally, streetlights are damaged in traffic accidents and have to be replaced. Again, we do not automatically receive information about knockdowns, so please report any downed streetlights.

Requesting a New or Additional Streetlight

Residents may desire additional lighting in their neighborhood. In order to ensure a neighborhood is in agreement with a new streetlight, the requesting resident will be required to gather signatures from a majority of residents on a street and submit the signatures to Colorado Springs Utilities. The petition form can be found below. In instances where crime occurs, Colorado Springs Police Department may request lighting be added, and the streetlights team may install a streetlight without neighborhood approval.

New or Additional Streetlight Request Form

Streetlight issues can be reported directly to Springs Utilities through their Streetlight Maintenance Request Map. This tool allows you to view all of the streetlights in their service area, report issues and track the progress of active maintenance. If the streetlight is knocked over or broken, do not approach the pole. Springs Utilities considers this an emergency, so please call them at 719-448-4800, option 1.

Timeline for repairs

Once customers submit a report, they are added to a year-long schedule. Often, repairs are completed much faster than the one-year timeframe. Springs Utilities aim to finish all minor maintenance within 40 days of receiving the report. Factors that determine how quickly the streetlight will be repaired are:

Where the streetlight is located. If the streetlight is on a busy corridor, for the safety of our crews and motorists, we only make these repairs at night.
If there are other streetlight issues nearby. Although we address streetlight issues on a first-come-first-served basis, if a report is made near a work zone, we will fix that issue while our crews are nearby.
Complexity of the repair. Not all streetlight issues are easy to fix. What may seem like a burned out bulb could be an electric line that was accidentally hit by a private contractor.

How are we improving the streetlight system?

Converting from HPS to LED

As HPS streetlights fail, they are replaced with LED fixtures. LEDs produce less light pollution, improve visibility, use less energy, and have longer lifespans. Approximately 20% of the City’s streetlights have been converted to LEDs and we are looking for ways to expedite conversion.

Color Temperature

The streetlights team uses 3000K color temperature for streetlights. This color temperature is the closest to the amber color temperature of existing HPS streetlights that we can currently purchase. The color temperature of HPS fixtures is 2200K.

Prioritizing Public Safety

Because of our limited budget for streetlights, lighting priorities are determined primarily by traffic and public safety concerns. Areas with reported crime and streets with heavy traffic loads and frequent pedestrian use at night are given first priority

Smart City Attachments

The Office of Innovation is partnering with Springs Utilities to pilot various smart city technology on streetlights. Learn more about our streetlight controllers and weather sensors pilot projects. A smart parking project was completed using sensors attached to streetlights. Air quality sensors will be deployed on streetlights in 2022.