Big savings: LED bulbs to replace traditional street lights across Lee County

When driving down major roads like Daniels Parkway, you may notice brighter road lights.

The Lee County Department of Transportation says the newer lights are shining light on savings. “Just like anything it’s a good thing to be saving money for anyone,” said Diana Micklos of Fort Myers.

Lee DOT says the yellow colored bulbs are outdated and require more maintenance. That’s why they’re replacing 3,000 of them with brighter, more energy efficient LED fixtures.

Robert Price from the Lee County DOT Traffic Operations Center, said “high pressure sodium bulb are good for two years, so we need to send someone out to replace that bulb every couple years, whereas the LED fixtures are good for ten years. There’s really limited maintenance cost once you get the bulb replaced.”

While the project costs $450,000 each year, over five years, the DOT says we’ll save in the long run.

They anticipate in upwards of $600,000 a year in energy and maintenance savings. That’s nearly $200 per street light, each year.