Streetlighting

Streetlighting increases night time safety for all road users. The two main classifications of streetlights are Ornamental and Lease lights. Ornamental lights are maintained by the City of Chilliwack and are typically on galvanized steel or concrete heritage type posts. Lease lights are on wood poles and are owned and maintained by BC Hydro at locations throughout the city.

Ornamental Streetlight	BC Hydro Lease Streetlight

Report a Streetlight Concern

If you see a streetlight that is out, cycling or broken please take note of these important details:

• Location of the light
• What type of pole is the streetlight on, i.e. metal or wood

Please call the Engineering Department at 604.793.2907, email [email protected], or report through the MyChilliwack Reporting App.

Streetlight concerns can take up to 10 business days to fix.

If the light is out on a wood hydro pole, City of Chilliwack staff will register that outage with BC Hydro’s computerized reporting system. Once registered, BC Hydro places it in a priority listing. There is no way for the City of Chilliwack to check on the progress of BC Hydro’s repairs and we are unable to expedite their process.

If the light is out on a metal pole, the City's contractor completes the repair.

Solar Streetlights

 The City now has 5 solar streetlights. These are the first solar streetlights installed in Chilliwack. Two solar lights have been installed on Trethewey Avenue west of Young Road, and three have been installed in the Park and Ride parking lot on Yale Road at Lickman Road. Installation was completed in June 2024.

 While it is expected that there may be winter periods where the sun will not provide enough charge, they should still provide valuable lighting needs formost of the year. This option will be considered in locations where the lighting is considered temporary or no other option is available due to impractical hydro servicing or cost. These solar lights can easily be relocated to other locations once they are no longer needed.

LED Streetlights

In 2020 City Council approved a budget to begin converting the City's existing streetlights to LED.  Although all new streetlights installed have been LED for several years, this program will accelerate the City's conversion of existing streetlights.  The benefits of this program will be a reduction in maintenance and energy consumption costs and reduced "sky glow" as LED light is  gives a more even light distribution and less light tresspass.  The program is planned to convert all streetlights in the City to LED by 2022.  

Downtown Streetlights

In 2020 and 2022 budget included a program to install over 100 new ornamental/decorative streetlights in the downtown area increasing overall road safety and comfort for cyclists and pedestrians. More information can be found on our website at Downtown Ornamental Streetlighting.