IN Brief:
- Aberdeenshire is installing highly reflective signs, improved road markings and solar road studs on the A952 near Mintlaw.
- An £89,500 Live Labs 2 grant supports changes to street lighting, with sensor-controlled pedestrian lighting and optical and thermal monitoring.
- Streetlights are due to be switched off on 30 October, after which a safety audit and longer-term evaluation will assess the approach.
Aberdeenshire Council is preparing to switch off conventional streetlights along part of the A952 near Mintlaw after installing higher visibility road markings, signs and solar-powered studs. The changes form a trial of alternative roadside infrastructure intended to reduce the carbon and maintenance burden of lighting while retaining sufficient information for drivers and pedestrians.
The £89,500 installation runs between the East Mains of Pitfour roundabout and the pavilion on North Street. New road markings and highly reflective signs are being installed, with solar powered studs scheduled for 29 and 30 October. Aberdeenshire Council outlined the arrangements on 23 October as part of a monitored research trial, with the changes confined to a specified road section rather than adopted as a general policy for the network.
North Street to the C4B road is scheduled to close from 9.30am to 4.30pm on both installation days, with signed diversions using the A952 and A90. On 30 October the authority plans to switch off lights at Balring Roundabout, on its approaches, and southwards along the A952 to just north of the garden centre access. These closures and lighting changes are future activities; the subsequent safety assessment will establish how the revised layout performs in use.
The equipment uses different forms of route delineation. Retroreflective markings and signs return light from approaching vehicle headlamps towards the driver, making boundaries and hazards more visible without requiring an electrical supply to each sign. Solar powered studs provide their own point sources of light along the road. Neither replaces the broad illumination from an overhead lantern, so junction geometry, line of sight and the position of vulnerable road users remain central to the trial’s safety assessment.
A pedestrian island near bus stops presents a particular design constraint. Although after dark pedestrian activity on this edge-of-village section is described as limited, people still need a safe crossing route. The installation therefore includes passive infrared sensor controlled lighting at the island. This is intended to illuminate the crossing when movement activates the sensor while allowing the trial to test reduced lighting over the adjoining carriageway.
East Riding of Yorkshire Council has completed risk assessments ahead of the switch-off, and an additional safety audit will follow the change. Optical and thermal video streams will be analysed with artificial intelligence tools to monitor driver behaviour. The council has not released baseline results, a measured collision reduction, or a numerical carbon saving. Monitoring is intended to test the replacement arrangement, including the response of motorists to altered lighting and the continuing visibility of crossings and road edges.
The work sits within Live Labs 2, a Department for Transport funded programme led locally by East Riding of Yorkshire Council. The national three-year initiative has £30m available for seven projects organised under four connected themes, supported by local authorities, commercial suppliers and academic partners. It addresses carbon associated with maintaining and constructing highway assets, rather than limiting the calculation to electricity consumed by operating streetlights.
Replacing conventional illumination with reflective features and targeted lights changes the maintenance task as well as the electrical load. Lanterns, columns and associated wiring require inspection and eventual renewal; studs, reflective surfaces and sensors have installation and replacement requirements of their own. The research programme is intended to examine whether a different combination of equipment can maintain appropriate visibility with lower whole-life emissions. It cannot establish in advance that the same approach will suit every road or junction.
Aberdeenshire has already invested approximately £6m in efficiency measures over the past decade, replacing more than 90% of its streetlighting lanterns with LED units. The authority reports that the programme reduced electricity consumption by 60%, although higher energy prices have pushed overall expenditure upwards. Those results explain the decision to investigate reduced lighting hours, lower light levels or fewer illuminated locations after most straightforward lantern replacements have already been completed.
Measuring the claimed environmental benefit will therefore require evidence about service lives, repairs and the materials used in each intervention. A reduction in the number of lit locations can save power, but installing alternative assets carries manufacturing and maintenance costs. The five-year monitoring and evaluation period after Live Labs 2 delivery should help distinguish initial energy reductions from longer-term resource use, while the safety audit tests a separate and essential requirement.
The council intends to assess the A952 arrangement after the scheduled 30 October switch-off, using video analysis and the subsequent safety audit. It has not approved a wider rollout, and the scope for other locations will depend on whether the Mintlaw observations support the safety and carbon assumptions. For now, the verified progress is installation of the trial equipment, with its operating performance still to be demonstrated.
Image: Bill Harrison / Geograph, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. Archive photograph of the A952/A950 at Mintlaw, not the new installation.
