Abstract
THE arterial road connecting Toronto and Niagara Falls, known as Queen Elizabeth Way, is lighted by incandescent lamps in parallel over its whole length of 70 miles. Already the lighting installation enjoys the distinction of being the longest in the world, and no doubt it will be continued on the proposed 20–mile extension of the highway to Fort Erie, making a total of 90 miles. In planning the installation provision was made for maximum silhouetting of obstacles. The Way consists of dual concrete tracks 20–23 ft. in width with an intervening strip of grass 28–30 ft. wide; the standard equipment comprises wooden poles, along the centre line of the grass, with welded cross-arms overhanging each traffic lane to the extent of 3 ft. The availability of cheap electric power from existing rural circuits operated by the Hydro–Electric Power Commission of Ontario seems to have been a determining factor in the adoption of incandescent lighting and parallel distribution. Sodium lamps are used to mark intersections. Distribution transformers of 15–kva. capacity feed the 115–v. lighting cables from the 2,300–v. rural distribution network. The lamps are of 6,000 lumens, 400 watts, spaced 200 ft. apart, and maintenance is by group replacement twice a year. Operating experience and costs from this installation should be of material assistance in planning the general lighting of arterial roads.
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Arterial Road Lighting. Nature 148, 748 (1941). https://doi.org/10.1038/148748a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/148748a0