Boulder Invites Community Input on Streetlight Color Temperatures

BOULDER, Colo. – The City of Boulder plans to convert streetlights to efficient LEDs to improve safety and visibility for people traveling, reduce carbon emissions, and save money. Community members can share their preferred streetlight color temperature — how warm or cool a light appears — for residential areas and major roadways via an online questionnaire. The questionnaire is available in English and Spanish from Sept. 20 to Nov. 1.

The community can view the streetlight color temperature options online or in person at two locations. A questionnaire is available via a QR code at each location. The city has installed examples at:
— Spruce Pool for residential street options.
— South of the 28th Street and Iris Avenue intersection along 28th Street for roadway options.

For those unable to view the examples, the city welcomes general feedback on LED color temperature selection via an online questionnaire on Be Heard Boulder.

In addition to community engagement on streetlight color temperature preferences, the city will evaluate options based on best practices from other cities and technical analyses. The conversion to LEDs will start in 2024 and is anticipated to continue through 2025. Evaluating streetlight locations is not part of this project phase and will take place during a future city process.

“We look forward to hearing the community’s thoughts on how our streetlights will look in the years to come,” said Engagement Project Manager Emily Sandoval. “Everyone who lives in or visits our city interacts with this important community infrastructure, and we welcome feedback on how we can modernize the system and support better visibility and safer travel for all.”

Community engagement is part of the Streetlight Acquisition project, which will bring 4,500 streetlights currently owned by Xcel Energy into city ownership and operation. This will support progress toward the city’s climate targets and community goals reflected in the Sustainability, Equity and Resilience Framework. The city anticipates completing the streetlights purchase by the end of 2023 using funds from the Community, Culture, Resilience and Safety Tax. Following this, the city will use learnings from data and community engagement to begin citywide conversion to LEDs. Funds saved from the acquisition will support streetlight maintenance and may be invested in future transportation improvements.

Find project information and sign up for updates on the Streetlight Acquisition webpage.