Citation

Pradhan SK. Indian Highw. 2019; 47(11): 16-22.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Indian Roads Congress)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Tunnels have become indispensable in modern road networks in hilly regions. Lighting and ventilation plays a vital role in efficient traffic management inside the tunnel. With rapid strides in lighting instruments and luminaires and with the advent of LEDs, the scope of lighting inside tunnel has become very interesting. In most of the modern day tunnels, LEDs are being preferred over High Pressure Sodium (HPS). However adaptation to new technology is slow in many countries due to high upfront costs of these luminaires. Besides absence of enabling codal provisions also sometimes plays spoiler. CIE - 88 do cater to photometric needs of the lighting arrangement inside tunnel, but stops short of exclusively providing for LEDs. It has been established in many studies that life cycle cost of LEDs and their photometric efficiency make for a strong case for adoption of LED as preferred luminaires for tunnel lighting. Theng tunnel in North Sikkim has adopted LED lighting arrangement in keeping with the modern trends and to bring down energy needs. The provisions of the contract agreement has been amended to make adoption of this new material/practice possible. LED should be used in all future tunnels and highway lighting in view of significant saving in energy cost and low life cycle cost.

Language: en

Keywords

Case studies; Light emitting diodes; India; Street lighting; Vehicular tunnels; Theng Tunnel