New streetlights can be seen near the corner of Route 1 and Guilford Road.
In an effort to continue increasing safety, the Route 1 Pedestrian Safety Workgroup announced Tuesday the successful installation of improved lighting on the thoroughfare.
These new LED lights — which are brighter, more energy-efficient and longer-lasting than their predecessors — line Route 1 from Guilford Road to University Boulevard, Charlie Gischlar, a State Highway Administration spokesman, wrote in an email. The work group partnered with the SHA and Pepco to complete the safety measure.
The initiative upgraded 50 existing streetlights to LED and added 38 new arms to existing poles and outfitted them with LED lights, said Eric Olson, executive director of the College Park City-University Partnership.
Olson said the work group considered the lights a necessary advance toward a more walkable, bikeable and pedestrian-friendly College Park, all goals of the University District Vision 2020 plan.
READ MORE: Woman struck by car while crossing Route 1
“We certainly felt like the lighting in the evening was darker than it should have been,” Olson said. “It was found that we should raise them up to a better standard … to make sure every student is as safe as possible.”
Many students said the idea of walking at night around certain areas of Route 1, especially near the University View and The Varsity apartments, made them uneasy.
“I probably wouldn’t walk by myself by there,” freshman kinesiology major Sabrina Sito said. “They should make someone like a police officer stand there at night.”
Other work group initiatives include lowering the speed limit, reducing pedestrian wait times at crosswalks and making the curb line markings at crosswalks more prominent, Olson said.
“Last year, there were issues of impaired pedestrians getting struck,” Gischlar wrote. “Obviously, people walking around at night on their way home from the bars was a bit of a problem.”
Discussion for the new lighting initiative began in December, and the work group conducted a study in May, Olson said. The results of the study concluded that Route 1 required additional safety measures, and the group began raising money and ordering lights in the summer, he said.
Olson said he had originally intended for Pepco to install the lights before the fall semester started, but he is nonetheless pleased with the result.
“We’ve really focused on [Route 1] as a main street for College Park,” he said. “This is part of the larger rebuilding of [Route 1] and will encompass a lot more improvements down the road.”
