DOT testimony on Intro 845: lighting under elevated train lines

Good morning.

Good morning, Chair Abreu, members of the Transportation Committee, of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

My name is Monty Dean, Deputy Commissioner of Traffic Operations.

I am joined by Michelle Craven, Associate Deputy Commissioner of Cityscape and Franchises.

Jeff Malamy, Director of Street Improvement Projects, and Rick Rodriguez, Assistant Commissioner for Intergovernmental and Community Affairs.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify on behalf of Mayor Mondani and Commissioner Flynn about Intro 845, 866, 894, 917, and 918.

First, Intro 845 is sponsored by Councilmember Thomas Henry.

This bill would require DOT to install distinctive lighting under elevated train lines.

With nearly 400,000 streetlights citywide under our responsibility, we recognize the importance of street lighting and enhancing both street

safety, and quality of life.

We are committed to ensuring streets are well lit for vehicle traffic as well as pedestrians in both the roadway and the sidewalk.

As a national leader in sustainable street lighting, our lighting studies are based on DOT standards.

These standards include recommended practices and guidelines published by the Illuminating Engineering Society, the internationally recognized entity that sets recommended practices for lighting levels in various applications to ensure lighting standards are sufficiently addressed citywide.

We are happy to provide a quick breakdown of how lighting is installed to provide more background.

Based on study evaluations, we routinely make upgrades in any street reconstruction project.

For installation, there are three ways we can add lighting, depending on where the lower lighting levels are located.

We can reduce the distance between streetlights.

Add secondary lighting on the back of existing poles over the sidewalk at a lower height, or install new standalone poles.

DOT must consider various factors when installing lighting, including extensive coordination with contractors and utilities when working around obstructions caused by trees or hydrants and existing below-ground infrastructure like gas mains and electric ducts.

These factors require further extensive survey and design work.

Installations can also require time-consuming and disruptive street excavations to lay new conduits and cables, as well as conduit construction for new feeds.

Our team works every day to make sure our streets and roadways are well lit.

In 2020,

25 alone, we enhanced lighting at nearly 2,500 locations across the city.

Despite these efforts around the city, we hear from New Yorkers that they feel safer and more secure when streets and sidewalks under elevated train lines are more brightly lit.

Lighting under elevated trains is uniquely challenging because the support columns create shadows and the elevated structures limit the height of the street light poles, and the elevated structures are not engineered to support additional loads.

Further, high vibration levels can prevent the installation of DOT equipment.

Along with the installation process, DOT has two categories of lighting we typically install, standard and distinctive.

Any streetlight pole other than the standard steel octagonal and davit designs for city streets is considered distinctive.

There are seven types of distinctive streetlights, which are installed as part of streetscape projects and other elected funded initiatives requiring public design commission approval.

Due to the different funding streams and additional approval processes, distinctive lighting is generally more expensive and slower to implement.

While DOT strives to be responsive in addressing community concerns regarding sufficient lighting, we have concerns with the bill as written.

We are worried that this bill would have the unintended consequences of slowing down our ability to address lighting conditions by limiting us to distinctive lighting.

We would be happy to discuss with the council how we can enhance lighting in your districts and welcome feedback if there are particular locations of concern.