Street Lighting

The City of Hamilton operates approximately 45,000 streetlights, and 40,000 of them are LED cobra-heads which have specifically been designed for roadway lighting. Some decorative luminaires still use High Pressure Sodium or Metal Halide lamps. These are being replaced by LED lights as they are more energy efficient and require less maintenance.

The City has a proactive replacement program for street lights, scheduled around the maximum usable service life of a street light lamp. This helps minimize maintenance costs and light outages.

We repair and are responsible for

• failed lights
• cycling lights (lights that come on and off repeatedly)
• lights that are stuck on
• leaning or damaged poles
• other safety and community concerns

To obtain locates for street lighting cables, contact Ontario One Call at 1-800-400-2255.

Repair or Maintain Street Lighting

If a streetlight is burnt out or needs repair and it is not an emergency, we will repair it within 5 working days.

We respond to emergency street light repairs immediately. Emergencies include:

• open luminaires (unlatched)
• luminaire hanging by its' wires
• exposed wires
• any other situation that could be an immediate risk to the public
• motor vehicle accidents involving street light, no matter how severe the damage is

Report issues with lighting on a Provincial route (i.e., Highway 403, QEW or parts of Highway 6 not maintained by the City of Hamilton) to the Ministry of Transportation's Corridor Maintenance office at 1-866-636-0663.