Bad Lighting at Dodgeville High School

At a school board meeting in November 2017, concerns were raised about inadequate lighting for evening school events, so the Dodgeville School District directed Alliant Energy to install some additional lights.  The lighting was installed during a warm spell in January 2018, and the photographs you see below were taken during the afternoon and evening of June 17, 2018.

Rather than being used only when school events are taking place in the evening, these terrible lights are on dusk-to-dawn 365 nights a year.  They are too bright, poorly directed, poorly shielded, and the glare they cause on W. Chapel St. and N. Johnson St. could pose a safety concern for pedestrians not being seen by drivers experiencing disability glare.  I can imagine that adjacent neighbors are not too happy with the light trespass into their yards and residences, either.

This is a perfect example of poor lighting design and unintended consequences.  How could it be done better?  Look for the solution below the following series of photos documenting the problem.

Bleacher path floodlight produces a great deal of uplight, and illuminates the disc golf course far more than the bleacher path
Bleacher path floodlight is mounted in a nearly-horizontal orientation
Bleacher path floodlight
Bleacher path floodlight
Bleacher path looking towards the bleachers
Bleacher path looking towards W. Chapel St.
Bleacher path at night
Bleacher path floodlight lighting up the disc golf course. Also note how much brighter the illumination is from the newly-installed blue-white LED streetlight as compared with the orangish light from the older high pressure sodium (HPS) luminaire.
Bleacher path floodlight lighting up the disc golf course and basket
Large tree being brightly illuminated all night long with bleacher path in foreground
Sub-optimal parking lot lighting at Dodgeville High School
Overflow parking floodlight
Two additional overflow parking lot floodlights
Overflow parking floodlight
Overflow parking floodlights
Overflow parking floodlight glare and spill light
Overflow parking floodlight glare onto W. Chapel St. in Dodgeville
Overflow parking glare and spill light onto W. Chapel St. in Dodgeville

Solutions

Pedestrian-scale 2700K LED “soft” lighting could be installed along the bleacher path
https://www.rabweb.com/images/features/ledbollards/bollard-hero.png
Or vandal-resistant bollards could be used—even low voltage lighting
https://i0.wp.com/5fc98fa113f6897cea53-06dfa63be377ed632ae798753ae0fb3f.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/product_images/files/000/053/502/legacy_product_detail_large/86666_a2d8cda8be485702f03dcf2c3085438bb03b8975_original.jpg?resize=600%2C600&ssl=1
If floodlights must be used, shield them, point them more downwards, and turn them off after 11:00 p.m. each night (or have them on only while evening school events are in progress)

In fact, regardless of the lighting solution, the lights should be either turned off or dimmed down to a lower level later at night.  (Security cameras will see just fine at lower light levels if that is a concern.)

Good neighbor outdoor lighting means minimizing GLUT:

Glare—never helps visibility
Light Trespass—no point in putting light where it is not needed
Uplight—sending light directly up into the night sky is a total waste
Too Much Light—use the right amount of light for the task, don’t overlight

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