Broken Bow, Nebraska
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Background
Broken Bow, Nebraska, is a charming town that offers a blend of rich history, agricultural roots, and modern amenities. The historic commercial district features a vibrant town square, tree-lined walkways, a bandstand, and several late 19th- and early 20th-century buildings – the area is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Challenge
The town’s existing streetlights were 250 W high‑pressure sodium (HPS) acorns. The performance of the legacy fixtures left a lot to be desired.
- Under HPS lighting, everything appears washed out or orange, hindering visibility and safety for both pedestrians and motorists.
- A 250 W HPS fixture typically draws over 290 watts when accounting for ballast losses. In contrast, today’s LED fixtures can achieve equal or greater illumination using just 80 – 150 watts.
- HPS lamps last only about 12,000 – 24,000 hours, while LEDs can last 50,000 – 100,000 hours
Broken Bow’s existing light poles were also a consideration. As they were still in good working order and complemented the historic elements of the town’s commercial district, they would remain. The new luminaires would have to be compatible with the existing poles in terms of scale and aesthetics as well as function.
Solution
The Streetworks Fairfax LED luminaire from Cooper Lighting Solutions offered the perfect solution for Broken Bow’s streetlighting upgrade.
The Fairfax is a decorative post-top luminaire, designed for downtown areas, parks, and residential streets. Its classic, timeless design and scale complemented Broken Bow’s existing 16-ft light poles and blended perfectly with the historic nature of downtown Broken Bow.
The Fairfax also offers modern features that outperform the town’s legacy high-pressure sodium acorns, such as superior light distribution for enhanced pedestrian and motorist safety, improved efficiency that lowers energy costs, and cost-effective, lower maintenance LEDs.
The Moehn Sales agents generated the initial lighting design for the Broken Bow project using the Cooper Lighting augmented reality-driven app, Light ARchitect. The app’s lighting simulation allowed the agents to provide their Broken Bow customers with a visual representation of what the new lighting would look like, how it would work, and why a fixture with higher vertical footcandles is preferable to provide safer, more secure streets, sidewalks, and parking spaces.
Results
The many advantages Fairfax lighting offers Broken Bow include:
- Improved Visibility Advanced optics create superior light distribution and better color rendering, making streets and sidewalks safer and more secure.
- Easy Installation and Maintenance At just 25 lbs, with a utility-friendly mounting system and long-lasting LEDs, Fairfax is engineered to reduce labor hours.
- Advanced Weather-Resistance Includes heavy-duty cast aluminum housing and a premium powder coat for fade resistance.
- Optimized Energy Efficiency Provides up to 15,700 lumens and an efficacy of 176 lumens per watt.
- Strict Compliance Fairfax is UL wet location-rated; configurations for DLC and DLC premium compliance are available.