Bristol City Council awarded £600,000 grant to upgrade LED traffic signals

en.Wedoany.com Reported - Bristol City Council has commissioned Yunex Traffic to carry out a major upgrade of the city's traffic signal network, replacing all existing halogen signal lamps with modern energy-efficient LED units to significantly reduce carbon emissions and energy consumption, while providing more reliable, efficient, and future-proof traffic signals. The project is being implemented by Yunex Traffic's local field service team.

The upgrade began in August 2024, following Bristol City Council's successful application for a £600,000 grant from the UK Department for Transport's (DfT) National Traffic Signal Challenge Fund to replace each halogen signal site with modern LED signal heads.

James Dowling, Signals and Traffic Control Manager at Bristol City Council, stated that in 2023, approximately 1,700 traditional incandescent halogen lamps were still installed across city sites. These lamps consume significant amounts of electricity and require regular replacement, imposing substantial maintenance and carbon impacts on the city, including maintenance costs, manufacturing expenses for replacement lamps, and vehicle mileage required for installation. After securing the grant, the council immediately collaborated with traffic signal contractor Yunex Traffic to rapidly commence the upgrade of signal sites across the city, completing the project on time and within budget.

Initial results show that the project will reduce carbon emissions by 50 tonnes annually across the city and decrease energy consumption by 57% per site. LED lamps require significantly less maintenance while providing better visibility under various weather and lighting conditions, and improving the reliability of traffic signal locations.

Wilke Reints, Managing Director of Yunex Traffic UK, added that thousands of traffic signals across the UK still rely on outdated halogen lamps. Collaboration with Bristol City Council and other authorities demonstrates that LED retrofit solutions allow councils to introduce low-maintenance, long-life technology while retaining existing roadside infrastructure, thereby enhancing safety and reducing environmental impact. Upgrading to LED units also enables authorities to mitigate the impact of halogen lamp phase-out and future-proof roadside assets.