Good outdoor lighting systems improve pedestrian visibility, driving safety, and personal security. But you can’t just haphazardly throw up a bunch lights and expect the system to work efficiently, and you don’t need to make your community as bright as the inside of a football stadium to get the job done.

Proper streetlight design and implementation, when done well, will save your community money by maximizing lighting efficiency and boosting home values—while still improving overall safety.

Here are three spots where some communities run into trouble:

1. Tree-Heavy Streets

Everyone wants a leafy community, but those pleasant avenues can be difficult to light effectively if you’re stuck with a bunch of towering, industrial-looking streetlights that will eventually find themselves on the outside looking in when the trees mature and bloom.

But you shouldn’t have to sacrifice the aesthetics that come with one of those gorgeous, tunnel-like tree-lined boulevards for the safety of well-lit streets and sidewalks.

For example, our comprehensive catalog (pdf) of street lights features a full range of pole heights and styles, usually ranging from 6′4″ to 15’ that allow the trees planted in your community to grow fully without concern of light blockage. And since we offer multiple options for attractive posts and luminaires, the lower, more abundant lights will only boost your streetscape’s overall curb appeal.

2. Crossings

Unfortunately, it’s just not possible to keep pedestrian paths and traffic-heavy streets separate all the time. But well-illuminated crossings serve two purposes: They, of course, provide well-lit routes that make it much easier for drivers to see pedestrians. And they also encourage pedestrians to cross at places where drivers are most likely to be alert, like intersections with stop signs and well-marked crosswalks, rather than at random places in the middle of streets. The effect is a safer, more orderly system that helps both drivers and pedestrians.

3. Dark Spots (and the Pesky Resilience of the Plague We Call ‘Night’)

The last thing you want to do is go overkill with outdoor lighting and try to stamp out darkness from every corner of your community—it’d be a quick way to see energy and installation costs soar. But if you plan effectively, and anticipate ahead of time where pedestrians are most likely to be at night, you can create well-lit, dedicated routes that maximize both safety, security, and energy efficiency.

This means routes to and from schools (early morning winter walks to school can be pretty dark, and there are lots of nighttime school-related activities). Around playgrounds. To and from community and recreation centers. Through parks. When done in conjunction with attractive, cohesive streetscapes, these smart, intuitive lighting systems provide the safe, pleasant walking routes that potential homeowners crave and use.

Similarly, for cars, a series of multiple, attractive lamp posts installed on both sides of wide streets can help more evenly eliminate dark spots more than a sporadic industrial-type floodlights, while still boosting curb appeal.