What are U.S. Governments Doing About Roadway Lighting Needs?

Energy and Lighting • Nov 18, 2016

Throughout the recent national and local political campaigns, we often heard mentioned, “improve the infrastructure”. Obviously, the U.S. road systems were a noteworthy segment in the debate.

Back in February 2016, the Congressional Budget Office, revealed a report recapping 2014 expenditures on federal highway spending, “Federal spending on highways (or, synonymously, roads) totaled $46 billion in 2014, roughly a quarter of total public spending on highways. About 95 percent of that amount was spent for the construction of highways or for their improvement, expansion, and major repair, and the remainder was spent for operation and maintenance.”

The feds are not the only government entities with oversight responsibilities applicable to the approximate 4,071,000 miles of roads in the United States. State and locals share the burden, but are governments keeping up? Earlier this year again, Eric Pianin reported in The Fiscal Times, “A new report this week by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities warns that state and local spending on infrastructure – including schools and wastewater treatment plants as well as highways and bridges – is at a 30-year low.” He continued, “…the U.S. has serious infrastructure needs of more than $3.4 trillion through 2020, including $1.7 trillion for roads, bridges and transit…”.

Roadway construction and maintenance isn’t limited to chip seal, asphalt, and concrete. Along with signage, barriers, markings, and paint, etc., of course lighting is a crucial component of a safe, well built, functioning road system. In this analysis, we specifically targeted highway and road lighting to see who is initiating the procurement and what is being solicited, purchased, and installed over the past one year period.

This is a pictorial look at U.S. roadway lighting bid requests: