LED lights to be installed in September

The installation of the new LED street lights in Yuma will begin on September 4. News 11 visited the city’s warehouse where they are being created to get all the details.

According to the Director of Public Works Department Joel Olea, the installation is expected to be an 18-week project. The first 12 weeks are going to be designated to the residential areas of Yuma and then, later on, will be focused on the highly traveled roadways such as 16th Street and 4th Avenue. The expectation is to have all the lights of Yuma being LED ready by the end of December.

We wanted to know why LED lights, which stands for “Light Emitting Diode” are so crucial for our community.

“It has to do with the quality of lighting associated with the LEDs. Another perspective is the cost savings associated with the LED lights. There’s an opportunity for the city of Yuma to save up to fifty percent of the energy cost associated with moving from high-pressure sodium lights to LED lights. The high-pressure sodium lights are lasting up to three years in our Yuma community whereas the new LED lights are expected to last up to 20 years,” said Olea.

As for the additions of the cameras and WiFi connection associated with these LEDs, the city says they are still in the process of testing them out, but their main priority is getting the actual lights up by this year.

Head to the city’s website for a list of dates your neighborhood will be getting the upgrade.