Rexburg Lighting

Table of Contents
Abstract
Literature Review
Methods
Findings
Discussion
Bibliography
Appendix

Abstract
Background: Growing cities are in need of increased lighting. Since 2001, when Ricks
College was converted into Brigham Young University- Idaho, the city of Rexburg had
begun increasing in population. The reason for the increase of population is because of
the amount of students that attend BYU-I. The University students make up a large
portion of the Rexburg populace and should have a big influence in where new lighting
should be placed.
Methods: Because the student population makes up such a large portion of Rexburg,
the opinion of the Universitys student body should impact the decision on where to
place the additional lighting. Therefore, a survey was sent out to 300 BYU- I students on
two different occasions. This survey was approved by Brother Bergstrom, the
Institutional Research and Assessment officer at BYU-I. The survey was sent to discover
the students opinions about the lighting situation in the city of Rexburg.
Findings: Students drive more at night, but walking is as common as driving during
the day. The further away students live from campus, the more likely it is that they will
drive. Students think that more lighting should be put around Porter Park area and Ivy
apartment area. Students are biased towards where they want lighting to be placed.
Discussion: The city of Rexburg should place additional lighting within the Porter
Park and/or Ivy Apartments area, dependent upon budget restrictions. The added street
lights should provide visibility for pedestrians both walking and driving. The
implementation of additional lighting will increase both perceived safety and literal
visibility. This analysis has been derived from the opinions of BYU-I students.

Literature Review
Growing cities have a constant need for an increase of lighting. A city that is
growing at a substantially rapid rate is usually the result of a recent boom in the
economy due to an oil rig, a factory providing hundreds of jobs, an expansion of housing
development or even a new college. In the case of Rexburg, Idaho, the conversion of
Ricks College into BYU-I in 2001 resulted in a rapidly growing city. This once small
town, known as Americas family community, no longer fits the small town stereotype
with just a few stop signs and a grocery store. Rexburg is a thriving city with new
business and housing coming in every year. As the University expands, so does the
community.
A significant problem that most rapid-growing cities encounter is accommodating
the newly developed areas with sufficient lighting. In Rexburg this is a very pressing
issue. Sometimes, with the expansion of campus, the building of new business, and the
developing of new housing, the city has a difficult time keeping up with making sure
those areas have sufficiently lit. Additional lighting may include but is not limited to:
pedestrian crosswalks, traffic lights, and street lighting. Night safety in Rexburg hinges
on the availability of the lighting provided by the public works department. The public
works department of Rexburg has a budget of 600,000 dollars a year for the upkeep of
current lights and the installment of additional lighting.
The price-per-light varies depending on the type of light fixture. It is important to
know the economics behind city lighting. Cheaper, more efficient lighting could
potentially lead to the placement of more lighting throughout the city. Many studies

have already outlined the effective techniques that other cities have implemented in the
past, in order to have environmentally friendly, as well as cost-efficient, lighting1 .
Traditional street lights, decorative street lights, recreational lights, and signal lights,
which are lamps placed on wooden power poles, are some of the different types of lamp
fixtures. Light fixtures on power poles become a hassle because the power company
alone can maintain them. There are also different types of light bulbs. The two main
types of street lighting used in Rexburg, and all across the country, are sodium-vapor
bulbs and mercury-vapor bulbs. The sodium-vapor bulbs have a yellowish orange tint
while the mercury-vapor bulbs emit a bluish, almost LED, tint. Both bulbs last for long
periods of time and offer high luminosity relative to the amount of energy used.
Traffic lighting is also very high in priority. Several complaints have been made
concerning two specific locations; the corners of S 2nd W and W 7th S by the Ivy
Apartments and S 1st E and E 2ND S by the Windsor Manor apartment complex. The
Rexburg Public Works Department has confirmed a contract with an engineering firm to
address traffic lighting issues in the city of Rexburg. Lighting in general is especially
critical because it is also a public safety issue. There have been reports of accidents,
involving both pedestrians and vehicles, and even deaths due to poor lighting
conditions. Some studies suggest that in both rural and urban areas that 70% of fatal
accidents occurred during the night2 . The most commonly reported cause for these
accidents is limited sight for the driver and, in a few cases, the pedestrian. The BYU-I

Kostic, Miomir & Lidija Djokic (2009) Recommendations for energy efficient and visually acceptable street
lighting. Energy, Vol. 34(10), 1565-1572.
2
Isebrands, Hillary N., et al. "Roadway Lighting Shows Safety Benefits at Rural Intersections." Journal Of
Transportation Engineering 136, no. 11 (November 2010): 949-955.

Scroll, a university newspaper, released an article addressing the need for additional
light around the city, namely areas with a concentrated population of students. In the
article was a testimony of a student who had gotten into a bicycle accident at night while
commuting from work to his apartment on a poorly lit street. Cities must invest time
and effort into investigating the security of their zone of authority in order to protect its
residents.
Sufficient lighting can not only help prevent traffic accidents but can also raise
perceived safety. Generally speaking people are more accepting of an area with less
lighting if they already feel that said area is fairly safe3 . That being said, it also shouldnt
be surprising that people typically reported to have felt safer when there is more light in
an area. Therefore, adequate lighting should be pursued by the city since it can raise
both actual and perceived safety by its citizens. This is true across all genders, ages and
races4.
Students in Rexburg maintain a significant portion of the city's population. Most
of the traffic in Rexburg is due to students. Students walk, drive, or ride their bikes and
scooters both during the day and at night. Because of the lighting budget, the public
works department cannot install an adequate number of lights in all of the necessary
locations around Rexburg. This is where students can help. Students make up the
majority of the pedestrian population at night and can provide critical input and
feedback on priority areas in need of additional lighting. An added benefit of collecting

Boomsma, Christine & Linda Steg (2014) Feeling Safe in the Dark: Examining the Effect of Entrapment,
Lighting Levels, and Gender on Feelings of Safety and Lighting Policy Acceptability. Environment and
Behavior, Vol. 46(2), 193-212.
4

ibid.

data from students is that they are a diverse and integrated part of the population. There
is always a high number of turnovers in student housing at the end of every semester.
Students tend to move around different complexes to experience different areas of
campus and its social atmosphere. Freshmen tend to live just about anywhere during
their first semester. As they become more seasoned they gain a perspective of which part
of campus is more suitable for them in terms of sociality, type of housing and especially
convenience to concentration of major classes. As such, students, despite their current
location, have most likely lived in a different location and thus provide an unbiased
perspective as to priority areas in need of additional lighting.

To address this issue a Qualtrics survey was compiled and distributed to a

random sample of 300 students. The survey consisted of a series of questions designed
to find out which areas do BYU-I students think have the most need for additional
lighting.

Methods
In order to understand the lighting make-up of Rexburg, the information on the
location of current lights was needed. The public works department of Rexburg provided
a map of the whole city of Rexburg which shows the exact locations of where all lights
currently are. In order to assist in more significant research, the Rexburg public works
department provided a list that has been created by the Rexburg police department
showing the areas that are in most need of lighting. From this list, the top four locations
were chosen to be the subjects of the survey questions.

The top four locations included the Ivy Apartments area, the Porter Park area, the
Temple area, and the Windsor Manor area. These sections of Rexburg city are within
several blocks of the BYU-I campus and are areas that the college students frequent.
The survey was created using Qualtrics. After having the survey approved by Brother
Bergstrom of BYU-I, it was sent on two separate occasions by email to a list of 300
BYU-I students.
The following are the questions asked on the survey:
Are you male or female?
Male/Female
Do you live in Rexburg?
Yes/No
Click on the map to indicate where you live:
(This was monitored by a heat map.)

Rank the following maps in order of importance from 1 to 4 of how pressing it is to have
more lighting added to each area. 1 being the most pressing and 4 being the least
pressing.
(The maps of the four areas were displayed in a rank order question system. Ivy
Apartment area, Porter Park area, Temple area, Windsor Manor area.)
How many nights in a week do you:
(The options were then displayed in a slider question system between the
numbers 1 and 7, indicating nights of the week. The three options were: Walk in
Rexburg, Ride a bike/scooter/longboard/etc. in Rexburg, and Drive a motorized
vehicle in Rexburg.)
These survey questions were carefully chosen to determine the respondents
lifestyles and to ensure clarity of the situation.

This survey was live for BYU-I students to take for six days. Within that time, of
the 300 surveys sent, a total of 67 surveys were started and 62 completed. This institutes
a 22 percent rate of surveys taken. All 67 tests are used in the results, regardless of
completion.

Findings
Finding 1:
63% of students (38 total) who took the survey live within a few blocks to the west and
to the north of the BYU-I campus. Of those who live in these particular sections, 14
thought that the Porter Park area needed the lighting first while another 14 thought that
the Ivy Apartments area needed the lighting first. Nine believed that Porter Park should
be the second area to receive lighting, while only seven believed Ivy Apartments area
should be second to receive lighting. Those students who live within a few blocks to the
west and to the north of the BYU-I campus feel that the two most imperative spots to
receive lighting are the Ivy Apartments area and the Porter Park area respectively.

These 38 students live within a few blocks of both of these sections of the town. This
could create potential bias due to the closeness of Ivy Apartment area and the Porter
Park area.

Finding 2
Of the 23 students who responded that they ride a bike/ scooter/ longboard/ etc. in
Rexburg, 19 responded to the previous rank-order question about the need for lighting
in the four areas. The 19 students chose the most pressing areas to be as follows: Ivy
Apartments area 6, Porter Park area 9, Temple area 0, and Windsor Manor area 4. More
students who are using means of transportation other than walking and driving believe
that the Porter Park area is in the most need of lighting. Almost double the number of
students feel that the Porter Park area is the priority for lighting other than all three
other areas.
Along with the Porter Park area receiving the most votes for being the most needed to
receive lighting, not one student who answered that they ride a bike/ scooter/
longboard/ etc. believed that Porter Park area should be the last area that needs to

receive lighting. By this demographic, Porter Park area should be the top priority, and
certainly not the last.

Finding 3
BYU-I Students Prefer Driving at Night.
58 BYU-I students responded in a survey detailing what type of transportation they use
at night and how often they use it. The majority of students prefer to drive at night

The city of Rexburg is a small town and the survey showed that even in a small town,
students prefer to drive at night, but the number of people who prefer to walk at night
isnt that far behind.
The question answered by 58 students 4.96% said they drive more at night during the
week. Comparing this to the number of how many people like to walk at night during a
week, which is 3.86%. They are pretty close; with the deviation of only .8, which means
it is closer to 1 which also means the deviation isnt a huge difference and isnt that
important.
Knowing that the deviation isnt a big enough difference, the city of Rexburg needs to
take into consideration both walking and driving students at night.
Even with taking into consideration that both walking and driving is used the most in
Rexburg. Driving should be seen as the top priority since it was ranked higher with a
4.96%.

Finding 4
The best way to understand which of all the possible areas would be best to place new
lighting is by looking at the means of all the separate locations. Each location was
ranked 53 times in either 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th priority. In order to find out which
location received the highest ranking, overall, the results must be added together and
divided by the number of results, as shown:

Ivy Apartments: (21*1)+(14*2)+(11*3)+(7*4)

(21) + (28) + (33) + (28)
110/53

=
= 110
= 2.075

Thus, 2.075 is the mean for the Ivy apartment. The exact same formula is used to
calculate the means for Porter Park area, Temple area, and Windsor Manor area. All
means are as follows:

Ivy Apartments Area:

2.075

Porter Park Area:

2.018

Temple Area:

3.169

Windsor Manor Area:

2.735

The closer the mean is to 1, the more importance the respondents placed on the area for
the need of lighting. Therefore, Porter Park area is in the most need of lighting, Ivy

Apartments Area is in second, Windsor Manor area is in third, and Temple area comes
in least in need of additional lighting.

Discussion
The meta question, as stated, Where would BYU-I student want additional
lighting in rexburg, has been answered through the use of a random sampling survey,
distributed to the student body. The results show that the answer to this question is that
the BYU-I student want additional lighting in the, first, Porter Park area and, second,
Ivy Apartment area. The subsequent actions to be taken by the City of Rexburgs Public
Works department are to budget the lighting within the area of Porter Park, budget the
lighting within the area of the Ivy apartments, then decide whether both can be
accomplished, or only one. Logic would then lead to the implementation of the budgeted
plan to increase lighting in the given area(s).
The type of lighting to be considered best for the increased safety of pedestrians
would be the lighting that gives the best results of illumination for both drivers and
walkers. They both make up the consistency of the nighttime populace using the public
road system. The implementation of this planned process will provide safety, in both the
perceived sense of security at night and the actual visibility at night, thus fulfilling the
responsibilities as authority over the jurisdiction of rexburg.
It is essential to take into consideration the fact that lighting in not simply for one
single method of transportation. Although most major accidents happen to civilians who
are driving motorized vehicles, the importance of illumination includes exposing all
other obstacles to those who are driving. Pedestrians that are walking should be able to
see the vehicles on the roads as well as the vehicles on the roads can see the pedestrians

attempting to cross the streets. For the safety of the area as a whole the more broad
sweeping and illuminating the lighting can be, the better the results will be.

Bibliography
Abdalla, M. & Easa, S. M. (2008). Improving road network databases by integrating a
geographic information system and digital imagery. Canadian Journal of Civil
Engineering, 35(2), 170-178. doi: 10.1139/L07-09
Boomsma, Christine & Linda Steg (2014) Feeling Safe in the Dark: Examining the Effect
of Entrapment, Lighting Levels, and Gender on Feelings of Safety and Lighting
Policy Acceptability. Environment and Behavior, Vol. 46(2), 193-212.
Bullough, John D., Eric T. Donnell, and Mark S. Rea. "To illuminate or not to
illuminate: Roadway lighting as it affects traffic safety at intersections." Accident
Analysis & Prevention 53, (April 2013): 65-77. Academic Search Premier,
EBSCOhost (accessed February 19, 2015).
Isebrands, Hillary N., et al. "Roadway Lighting Shows Safety Benefits at Rural
Intersections." Journal Of Transportation Engineering 136, no. 11 (November
2010): 949-955. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed February 19,
2015).
K. G. Willis, N. A. Powe and G. D. Garrod [Paper first received, February 2004; in final
form, May 2005] Estimating the Value of Improved Street Lighting: A Factor
Analytical Discrete Choice Approach. Urban Studies, Vol. 42, No. 12, 2289
2303, November 2005
Kostic, Miomir & Lidija Djokic (2009) Recommendations for energy efficient and
visually acceptable street lighting. Energy, Vol. 34(10), 1565-1572.

MS Rea PhD FSLL, JD Bullough PhD FIES and Y Zhou MS Lighting Research Center,
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 21 Union Street, Troy, NY 12180, USA Received
29 August 2009; Revised 19 October 2009; Accepted 27 December 200

Appendix
(informed consent & survey)
Hello fellow BYU-I student,
I am sending this survey to you so that further research can be done on the street
lighting in Rexburg. This should take no longer than five minutes of your time. You do
not have to answer any questions you are uncomfortable with, but do know that this
survey is anonymous. The return of this survey is the consent to participate in this
research project.
Copy and paste the URL below into your internet browser:
https://byui.az1.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_2gYuOBLOJzdl9xr
Thank you for your time and assistance!

Are you male or female?

Male
Female
Do you live in Rexburg?
Yes
No
If the answer to the second question is yes, proceed to the next question. If the answer to
the second question is no, skip the next question.
Click on the map to indicate where you live:

Rank the following maps in order of importance from 1 to 4 of how pressing it is to have
more lighting added to each area. 1 being the most pressing and 4 being the least
pressing.

Ivy Apartments Area

Porter Park Area

 Temple Area

Windsor Manor Area

How many nights in a week do you:

0
Walk in Rexburg
Ride a Bike/ Scooter/
Longboard in Rexburg
Drive in Rexburg