Like it or not, the nighttime look of Tacoma’s city streets and suburbs is changing. Tacoma Public Utilities (TPU) and the City of Tacoma are sweeping from south to north in 2018, replacing 75% of our aging streetlights with new, energy efficient LED fixtures.

Though they’ve carefully selected the new lights to help control light pollution, there’s no doubt they cast a different kind of glow on our streets. A side-by-side comparison of Tacoma’s older lights and their replacements:

Citizens took a recent Facebook post by TPU as an opportunity to express their concerns, as well as say a few nice things about the project.

Those against the change used hashtags such as #FightTheLight and #GoodbyeNightSky, while a commenter from the other perspective wrote: “I’ve seen these lights in action. They are fantastic and light pollution is virtually eliminated. Nice work TPU.”

No matter if you’re excited for the new lights and energy savings, hate them, or find yourself with one foot in each camp, they’re coming.

For more specific information on your area, including exactly which street lights in your neighborhood will be upgraded to LEDs, check out this online map.

Taking a peek at one zoomed in area of 6th Avenue, for example, shows lights that will be replaced with 400W LEDs (orange), 100W LEDs (yellow), lights which require no action (white), and lights with existing LEDs (green).

More on street light changes, from City of Tacoma.