Ramesh C.

Gupta, PE
Alfred Benesch & Co.
205 N Michigan Ave., Suite 2400
Chicago, IL 60601
312-565-0450
rgupta@benesch.com
www.benesch.com

benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta

Chicago, IL
 Roadway Lighting
ANSI/IESNA RP-8-00
Ramesh Gupta
Alfred Benesch & Company
Chicago, IL

benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta

Chicago, IL
 Contents

• Definitions and terminology

• Purpose of Roadway Lighting
• RP-8-00 (Revisions)

benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta

Chicago, IL
 Illuminance
• Incident light that lands on a surface
– Matches geometry of the roadway with light pattern
• Quantified in footcandles (lumens/ft2)
• Quantified in lux (lumens/m2)

benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta

Chicago, IL
 Luminance

•Light that reflects from a surface

-- Predicts roadway appearance -- how bright? -- how uniform?

•Quantified in candela/meter2
• Surface dependant
• Direction dependant
• Is what you see

benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta

Chicago, IL
Glare - What is it?

This glare forms a veil over

the eye and hinders the
eye’s ability to see.

We refer to this glare as

Veiling Luminance.

benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta

Chicago, IL
What is it? - Visibility

Is a metric:
Influenced by
contrast,general
adaptation level,glare,
transient adaptation,
size,shape and color of
the object,background
complexity and
motion,and last but not
least, the visual capability
of the road user.

benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta

Chicago, IL
 Small Target Visibility (STV)
• Indicates how well user can see on the
lighted roadway
• Metric Derived from Field of Contrast Values
• Contrast: Luminance of Target Compared to
Luminances of Immediate Surroundings
• Weighted for Numerous Factors: Average
Luminance, Pos or Neg Contrast, Driver Age
• Combined into Single System Value

benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta

Chicago, IL
Contrast

benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta

Chicago, IL
 Purpose of Roadway Lighting
• Summary:
• Reduction in accidents/fatalities
• Reduction in pedestrian accidents/fatalities
• Human Eye Limitations
• Supplements head lighting at high speeds
• Aid to older driver
• Produces Highest Benefit/Cost ratio of all the
Highway improvement per FHWA Data
benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta
Chicago, IL
A Final Thought about the worth of Lighting
from the 1996 FHWA Annual Report

benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta

Chicago, IL
Roadway Lighting – (RP-8-00)
Revisions

benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta

Chicago, IL
ANSI/IESNA
RP-8-00

American National
Standard Practice
For
Roadway Lighting

benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta

Chicago, IL
 RP-8-00 History
• Principles of Streetlighting 1928
• Code of Streetlighting 1930, 35, 37
• Recommended Practice of Streetlighting 1940
• Recommended Practice of Street and
Highway Lighting 1945
• American Standard Practice for Street
and Highway Lighting 1947, 53
• American Standard Practice for
Roadway Lighting 1963, 72, 77, 83, 93

benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta

Chicago, IL
 RP-8-00 History
• 1947 and 1983 were Landmark Documents
– ’47 as the first American National Standards Institute
(ANSI) document
– ’83 first inclusion of a method for lighting streets and
roadways other than “Incident Light” or Illuminance
method i.e. Footcandles.
– (FYI, the CIE moved to the “Reflected Light” or
Luminance method in 1972. They used main frame
computers and developed “prescriptions” for lighting.
This approach was, and still is, unacceptable in the U.S.
where apparently we are all “from Missouri”!)

benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta

Chicago, IL
 RP-8-00 History
• The revolutionary document “An Analytic Model
for Describing the Influence of Lighting
Parameters Upon Visual Performance” CIE 19/2
1980 authored by the Blackwells was published.
• Advent of the personal computer in the early ’80’s
made the calculations for the Reflected Light
metric easily possible and permitted its adoption
for Roadway Lighting.
• The pc also made the more extensive contrast
calculations for a visibility metric possible, as long
as a two dimensional target was used.

benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta

Chicago, IL
 RP-8-00 History
• ’83 Standard clearly stated that the
Luminance method was the “preferred”
method.
• ’83 standard contained an extensive
“Appendix D – Visibility”
– The belief at the time of the ’83 standard was
that a “Visibility” based standard would soon
follow.

benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta

Chicago, IL
 Visibility Basis of RP-8-00
§ Roots of new Recommended Practice trace back
to Waldram’s Revealing Power work in 1938.
§ Utilizes principles by Blackwell in CIE 19/2
§ Current visibility model is by Werner Adrian
§ 60 year old moving observer
§ 18 cm, 50 % reflectance target viewed @ a height of
1.45 m and 83 m distance (1 degree downward angle)
§ 0.2 second viewing time
§ Visibility Model accounts for eye adaptation, target/
background contrast and glare from the luminaires
§ Next revision to account for auto headlights and also
include discomfort glare requirements.
benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta
Chicago, IL
benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta
Chicago, IL
Visibility Model Sensitivity Analysis

Glare is from the fixed roadway lighting system benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta
Chicago, IL
Visibility Model Sensitivity Analysis

Contrast is the driving force behind visibility

benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta
Chicago, IL
Visibility Model Sensitivity Analysis

Doubling the Light level does not double the visibility benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta
Chicago, IL
Roadway Lighting Standard Practice
ANSI/IESNA RP-8-00
• Practice allows for the following design
techniques:
– Illuminance (LUX/ FC)
– Luminance ( no change from ‘83 Practice )
– STV ( Small Target Visibility)
• Glare Consideration in All Methods
• These design techniques apply to all new
roadways and are based on the RP-8 -1983 and
RP-8 -1990.

benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta

Chicago, IL
 Glare Comes in Two Flavors
• Discomfort Glare is not accounted for in the
current RP-8 -00, but may be included in the next
revision to RP-8.
• Disability Glare is accounted for in two ways as
follows:
– The luminance levels given Tables 3 & 4 are minimum
level to mitigate oncoming headlights
– The calculation of Veiling Luminance Ratio evaluates
the disability glare of the proposed lighting system

benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta

Chicago, IL
 Illuminance Luminance
ROAD AND AREA CLASSIFICATION AVG. MAX MAX MAX
ROAD AND AREA CLASSIFICATION PAVEMENT MAX MAX LUMIN. UNIFORM. UNIFORM. VEILING
CLASSIFICATION UNIFORM. VEILIN RATIO RATIO LUMIN.
RATIO G ROAD PEDESTRIAN L avg 2 RATIO
ROAD PEDESTRIAN R1 R2 & R4 LUMIN. AREA (cd/m ) Lavg /L min Lmax/Lmin Lvmax/Lavg
AREA R3 Eavg/Emin RATIO CLASSIFICATION
CLASSIFICATION (lux) (lux) (lux) Lvmax/La
vg Freeway Class A 0.6 3.5 6.0 0.3
Freeway Class A 6.0 9.0 8.0 3.0 0.3 Freeway Class B 0.4 3.5 6.0 0.3
Freeway Class B 4.0 6.0 5.0 3.0 0.3 High 1.0 3.0 5.0 0.3
Expressway
High 10.0 14.0 13.0 3.0 0.3 Medium 0.8 3.0 5.0 0.3
Expressway
Medium 8.0 12.0 10.0 3.0 0.3 Low 0.6 3.5 6.0 0.3
Low 6.0 9.0 8.0 3.0 0.3 High 1.2 3.0 5.0 0.3
Major
High 12.0 17.0 15.0 3.0 0.3 Medium 0.9 3.0 5.0 0.3
Major
Medium 9.0 13.0 11.0 3.0 0.3 Low 0.6 3.5 6.0 0.3
Low 6.0 9.0 8.0 3.0 0.3 High 0.8 3.0 5.0 0.4
Collector
High 8.0 12.0 10.0 4.0 0.4 Medium 0.6 3.5 6.0 0.4
Collector
Medium 6.0 9.0 8.0 4.0 0.4 Low 0.4 4.0 8.0 0.4
Low 4.0 6.0 5.0 4.0 0.4 High 0.6 6.0 10.0 0.4
Local
High 6.0 9.0 8.0 6.0 0.4 Medium 0.5 6.0 10.0 0.4
Local
Medium 5.0 7.0 6.0 6.0 0.4 Low 0.3 6.0 10.0 0.4
Low 3.0 4.0 4.0 6.0 0.4

STV
ROAD AND AREA CLASSIFICATION STV LUMINANCE CRITERIA
CRITERIA
ROAD PEDESTRIAN Wtg. Avg. L avg 2 Lavg *2 Max.
AREA VL Cd/m Cd/m Uniformity
CLASSIFICATIO Median Median Ratio

Illuminance
N <7.3 >7.3 m. L m a x/L min
m.

Freeway "A" 3.2 0.5 0.4 6.0

Freeway "B" 2.6 0.4 0.3 6.0

Luminance Expressway

Major
High

Medium
3.8
4.9

4.0
0.5
1.0

0.8
0.4
0.8

0.7
6.0
6.0

6.0

STV Collector
Low

High
3.2

3.8
0.6

0.6
0.6

0.5
6.0

6.0
Medium 3.2 0.5 0.4 6.0
Low 2.7 0.4 0.4 6.0
High 2.7 0.5 0.4 10.0
Local
Medium 2.2 0.4 0.3 10.0

RP-8-00 Revisions Low 1.6 0.3 0.3 10.0

benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta

Chicago, IL
 RP-8-00 Revisions
Pedestrian Area Classifications

Pedestrian Conflict Area Classifications

High - Areas with significant numbers of pedestrians expected to be on the

sidewalks or crossing the streets during darkness. Examples are
downtown retail areas, near stage theaters, concert halls, stadiums,
and transit terminals.

Medium - Areas where lessor numbers of pedestrians utilize the streets at night.
Typical are downtown office areas, blocks with libraries, movie
theaters, apartments, neighborhood shopping, industrial, older city
areas, and streets with transit lines.

Low - Areas with very low volumes of night pedestrian usage. This can
occur in any of the cited roadway classifications but may be typified
on suburban single family streets, very low density residential
developments, and rural or semi-rural areas.

Low - 10 or less per hour

Medium - 11 to 100 per hour
High - over 100 per hour

Reprinted from RP -8- 00 benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta

Chicago, IL
 RP-8-00 Revisions
• Recommendations for Pedestrian Areas and
Bikeways Lighting Design in the Urban
Environment that drawn from :
• CIE92 “Guide to the lighting of urban
areas”
• ITE “Guideline to Urban Major Street
Design”

benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta

Chicago, IL
Vertical Illumination
Urban Areas

• Facial Recognition

benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta

Chicago, IL
 RP-8-00 revisions (cont’d)
• A new Full Cutoff luminaire light distribution
definition is added
• High Mast Lighting no longer has a separate set of
recommendations
• Intersection lighting levels have been clarified
• A new methodology is recommended for the
lighting of Railroad Grade Crossings
• Recommendations are included for Isolated
Traffic Conflict Areas . (Table D1,D2 & D3)

benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta

Chicago, IL
 RP-8-00 revisions (cont’d)
• Added a Section on Glare and Sky-Glow (Light
Pollution) Issues
• Cautions designer to be prepared to meet the needs
of client and also satisfy these issues
• Light above the horizontal does not benefit
roadway lighting and adds to sky-glow which is
undesirable and offensive.
• Discourages the use of Non -cutoff distributions
• Encourages the use of Cutoff and Full Cutoff
distributions
• References TM-10 and RP -33
benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta
Chicago, IL
 Earth at Night

Other Aspects of Roadway Lighting

- Light Pollution

http://earthobservatory.nasa.govbenesch
/study/lights/
– Ramesh C. Gupta
Chicago, IL
 Sky Glow

Los Angeles, CA in 1988 from Mt. Wilson benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta

Chicago, IL
Cut-off Installation

benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta

Chicago, IL
 RP-8-00 revisions (cont’d)

Fig-1

benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta

Reprinted from RP -8- 00 Chicago, IL
 RP-8-00 revisions (cont’d)
Intersection Lighting

The intersection illumination is equal to the sum of the values used for each separate street
Reprinted from RP -8- 00 benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta
Chicago, IL
 Railroad Grade Crossings

Fig D-4
Min of 10 lux vertical illumination on railroad cars

“Seven Years into Illumination at Railroad Highway Crossings” by Dick Mather; Signal Crossing Specialist
with the Oregon Public Utility Commission
benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta
Reprinted from RP -8- 00 Chicago, IL
Illuminance or Luminance Method

70 cd/m2 140 cd/ m2

Same Lux level

benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta

Chicago, IL
High vs. Low Veiling Luminance

Refractor unit Flat glass unit

0.4 cd/m2 0.6 cd/m2

benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta

Chicago, IL
No Roadway Lighting

No Fixed Lighting benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta

Chicago, IL
Roadway Lighting

Addition of Fixed Lighting benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta

Chicago, IL
200 W HPS Refractor Optics 150 W HPS Cutoff Optics

Luminance = 1.34 cd/ m sq. Luminance = 0.83 cd/ m sq.

Max/Min Uniformity = 6.2 Max/Min Uniformity = 5.6
STV = 4.89 STV = 3.06

benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta

Chicago, IL
 400 w HPS Offset Luminaires

Luminance = 1.61 cd/ m sq.; Max/Min Uniformity = 2.4; STV = 3.19

benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta

Chicago, IL
 Uniform
Lighting

Non-Uniform
Lighting

benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta

Chicago, IL
 RP-8-00
Conclusions:
• The new Recommended Practice for Roadway
Lighting offers the designer the capability of
significantly reducing the energy.
• The designer can design the lighting system with
knowledge of how the street will “look” when the
luminaires are turned on.
• The designer can predict how well a motorist can
see under a particular lighting system.

benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta

Chicago, IL
Who Can Make the Difference?

• DOT’s 30%
• Municipalities 15%
• Utilities 55%
• Consultants
• Citizens
• Public Official

benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta

Chicago, IL
 HOW?
Use the Standards:
• American National Standard Practice for Roadway
Lighting
ANSI/IESNA RP-8-00
• An Information Guide for Roadway Lighting
AASHTO – 1984 – Under Revision

• City/State Standards and Codes

benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta

Chicago, IL
ANSI/IESNA
RP-8-00

American National
Standard Practice
For
Roadway Lighting

benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta

Chicago, IL
AASHTO LIGHTING GUIDE

Lists Warrants and other

Conditions where
Lighting should be considered

Note: this publication is under

Revision.

benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta

Chicago, IL
Questions

benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta

Chicago, IL
Thank You

benesch – Ramesh C. Gupta

Chicago, IL