Vejdirektoratet finishes €18.75 million LED update

The Danish Road Directorate, Vejdirektoratet, said lower operating costs of LED highway lights mean the return on investment could be only six years.
By David Arminas May 5, 2025 Read time: 2 mins
LED lights and reduced lighting levels is helping the Danish Road Directorate save money and energy (image courtesy Vejdirektoratet, the Danish Road Directorate)

The Danish Road Directorate, Vejdirektoratet, has completed its largest lighting project, replacement of 23,000 lamps on the national road network with modern LED lamps.

Vejdirektoratet also said it has removed lighting on motorway sections where it was deemed not essential. Overall, the project means that energy consumption for road lighting has been reduced by about 65%, according to Thomas Danielsen, Denmark’s transport minister.

Total investment is about €18.75 million. However, the lower operating costs mean that the investment is expected to be paid back in just under six years. At night, the light is automatically reduced to half the previous level in many places to save energy, where there is no need for much brighter light.

Last December, the directorate published an updated version of the Danish Road Lighting Handbook - one of the most used Danish standards to meet the Danish Road Lighting Guidelines and which is heavily adopted for state roads, municipalities and road infrastructure.

The updated handbook introduces three new terms and concepts concerning light pollution, good light and biodiversity. These are “environmental zones”, “G-index” and “mDER (Melanopic Daylight Efficacy Ratio)”.  

Last May 2024, the Danish Road Directorate published the report “The Impact of Lighting on Animals, Plants and Humans.” The report helped form the basis for the measures the directorate incorporated into the updated road lighting handbook.

Highway & Network Management

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Increasing importance of alternate truck routes
    February 14, 2012
    The fabled Silk Route from China to Europe takes many forms, and is again becoming increasingly important as Patrick Smithreports The ancient Silk Road was never a single caravan route, but covered hundreds of kilometres in width extending in length for around 10,000km. This is the view of the European International Road Transport Union (IRU), and many other countries and organisations, who point out that it is a system of routes covering many countries via a series of branch roads that dates back some 2
    Read More
  • Pay attention to The Ray, urges WheelRight’s John Catling
    July 17, 2017
    Development of the connected and sustainable highways is moving quickly in the US and the Far East but progress in Europe is much less impressive. One example of a connected highway that offers an interesting model for European transport planners and policymakers is The Ray, a 29km stretch of Interstate 85 in the state of Georgia. Originally established by a charitable foundation, The Ray offers an inspiring vision of a sustainable highway, even for the near future. Drivers crossing the state line from Ala
    Read More
  • A roundabouts way of lighting
    October 10, 2022
    One of Europe’s first smart lighting systems specifically for roudabouts is operating in Hungary and making big energy savings for local government, explains Miklós Muranyi*
    Read More
  • Protecting the roadway with guard rails
    November 10, 2015
    Tata Construction Products is a major player in the European road protection market and aims to boost its share of business - Mike Woof writes. Part of the massive Tata Group, Tata Construction Products is a major player in Europe’s business segment for steel guard rails. Rodney Rice, marketing manager, Tata Steel Construction Products, said, “Our market is predominantly Europe.”
    Read More

Highlighted Content