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ANOTHER POINTLESS INCREASE IN BACKROUND MICROWAVE RADIATION HITS THE STREETS

Intelligent lighting has come to one of the borough’s busiest roads. A £500,000 project has seen state-of-the-art ‘talking’ lights installed on the East Lancs Road between Golborne and Boothstown.
Eagle-eyed motorists may already have spotted mini antennae appearing on light columns along that stretch of the A580. These allow the lights to communicate with each other and remotely with street lighting engineers to help keep the borough bright. Engineers receive live computer reports to check each light is working.
Wigan Council is pioneering the region’s most extensive trial of intelligent street lighting in partnership with Mayflower Intelligent Management Systems. The new columns are controlled by special software and communicate by using low-power radio signals. Each light ‘reports in’ several times a day by e-mail, can be individually switched on or off and can even anticipate faults.
It’s also a ‘green scheme’. Engineers can monitor power use and adjust lighting levels according to traffic usage or weather conditions. Light pollution is reduced as the lamps only illuminate the road below, and the electricity is generated by wind power.
When Wigan Council took over the East Lancs Road from the Highways Agency a couple of years ago, the council negotiated funding to ensure the dual carriageway meets strict safety demands. A new cycle path and many surfacing improvements were soon in place.
Highways boss Peter Taylor explains: “Safety is the crucial factor. As well as replacing old columns, we want to improve the night time security of all road users on the A580, especially in the rural areas where it crosses part of Chat Moss.
“The lights will do what we tell them, when we tell them! But this is a serious investment with a serious message. We’re harnessing the latest technology to make one of our busiest routes one of our safest.”
Residents can report lighting faults anywhere online at www.wigan.gov.uk or to the council’s street lighting team on 01942 404331.