scope:

Purpose of this Standard Practice

The primary purpose of this Standard Practice is to serve as the basis for design of fixed lighting for roadways, adjacent bikeways, and pedestrian ways. The Standard Practice deals entirely with lighting and does not give advice on construction. Its purpose is to provide recommended practices for designing new continuous lighting systems for roadways. It is not intended to be applied to existing lighting systems until such systems are redesigned. It has been prepared to advance the art, science, and practice of roadway lighting in North America. Roadway lighting includes pedestrian and bikeway lighting when it is associated with the public right-of-way (see Figure 2).

The decision to provide or upgrade roadway lighting at a particular location should be made on the basis of a study of local conditions. Once a decision has been made to provide lighting, this publication provides the basis for designing an appropriate system.