Since 1998, the American Society of Civil Engineers has gotten a lot of attention in the mainstream press for its “Report Card for America’s Infrastructure”. Every four years, ASCE scores infrastructure through a lens that focuses
on structural condition, obsolescence, age, et al., and hands out grades in 18 infrastructure categories that include bridges, dams, drinking water, rail, ports and wastewater.
The grades are not pretty. U.S. infrastructure averaged over these 18 infrastructure types earned a disappointing C- in 2021—a slight improvement from the D+ GPA in 2017.
The ASCE grading system got me to thinking what a “lighting report card” for infrastructure might look like. The project types used by the ASCE would probably be the same—roads, schools, transit, etc.—but what core competencies would be graded? Some of the most obvious are adherence to prescribed illuminance levels, aesthetics, support of the architectural concept, ability for users to execute the required visual task, energy efficiency, and respect for the environment, wildlife and the night sky.
With this infrastructure-themed issue of LD+A, we feature the following projects and topics that coincidentally touch on these potential criteria. In the hypothetical aesthetics category, see our case study on the Vancouver International Airport expansion (p. 22), which uses design to immerse travelers in the local coastal landscape. The award-winning Sound Transit maintenance facility in Seattle (p. 28) demonstrates the importance of illuminating the visual task to make sure the city’s light-rail vehicles are ready for action. Our feature story on adaptive/connected
lighting (p. 32) details the benefits to both cities and citizens of better lighting on roadways. Finally, solutions for mitigating light pollution from a recent DesignLights Consortium panel discussion appear on p. 38.
All of the above are examples of lighting doing its part to help infrastructure make the grade.