Skip to main content

UK county looking for major savings from Siemens traffic light upgrade

A major programme to upgrade traffic lights at 78 junctions and 100 pedestrian crossings across Norfolk, in the UK, with new energy-saving LED signals from Siemens is nearing completion. The retrofit project to supply, install and maintain all 178 sites is estimated to provide up to 78 per cent power consumption and carbon savings for Norfolk County Council (NCC). The new contract includes an innovative cost benefit payback solution provided by Siemens Financial Services.
May 14, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
A major programme to upgrade traffic lights at 78 junctions and 100 pedestrian crossings across Norfolk, in the UK, with new energy-saving LED signals from 189 Siemens is nearing completion. The retrofit project to supply, install and maintain all 178 sites is estimated to provide up to 78 per cent power consumption and carbon savings for Norfolk County Council (NCC). The new contract includes an innovative cost benefit payback solution provided by Siemens Financial Services.

According to NCC’s Graham Harbord, team manager, ITS, all new traffic signal installations in Norfolk are equipped with Siemens extra low voltage (ELV) controllers and the benefits extend beyond energy and carbon savings. “Without the need to constantly replace lamps, maintenance costs are reduced and with no mains voltage on site every installation is safer. Overall, Norfolk will achieve significant long-term savings, taking into account the traffic management costs to provide and install the ELV equipment, the power and carbon savings as well as the cost to finance the project,” Harbord said.

Norfolk County Council worked alongside Siemens in identifying sites suitable for LED retrofit head replacement, the number of heads, the number and type of aspects and grouped the locations within the county so that a more efficient delivery programme could be agreed. “This joined up approach will reduce the works period, reduces travel and therefore C02 emissions while delivering the project,” Harbord said.

The finance facility offered to NCC helped enable the entire project to proceed because the savings generated helped make the project ‘self-financing’ and more affordable.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Irish county council upgrades to LED streetlights
    October 29, 2015
    After evaluating traditional lighting technology already adopted in past projects, such as induction, the County Laois Council chose Cree LED luminaires to upgrade the street-lighting in parts of Portlaoise, one of Ireland’s fastest growing modern towns. Their decision was driven by the long life of the products and by the minimum maintenance costs. Developed by international lighting specialist Cree, the project uses the company’s XSP Series luminaires, which Cree says are an excellent alternative to
  • Virginia presses ahead with tunnels upgrade despite tolls challenge
    July 30, 2013
    David Crawford reviews current developments and legal/financial issues facing tunnel management in Virginia. This autumn the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) in the US will defend its plan to introduce tolling on the Elizabeth River tunnels linking the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth in the State’s Hampton Roads area. The tolling, which is due to start from February 2014, will be examined by the State’s Supreme Court later this year. The anticipated toll income, along with loans and bonds, is
  • Dynamic Message Signs : Don’t replace, refurbish and upgrade
    August 12, 2015
    Refurbishing old dynamic message signs can save money and increase technical capabilities as David Crawford discovers. Evidence is growing on both sides of the Atlantic of the scope for retrofitting old or technically out-of-date dynamic message signs (DMS) with new electronic equipment, to save on the costs of installing full-scale replacements. In the last four months of 2014, a number of US states progressed programmes that achieved savings of more than US$1.75 million (€1.56million).
  • New traffic light controller is ‘game changer’ says Siemens
    June 6, 2014
    Siemens’ introduced its new Sitraffic sX controller as a ‘game changer’, Colin Sowman finds out why.