Purple Street Lights In Iowa Could Finally Be Getting Removed

Back in July, many of us started to see a large number of purple street lights. It's nothing new to see different colored lights in larger cities, and many different areas have seen these bright purple lights at night.

These Lights Are Not Here On Purpose

Some thought that these lights were a new type of "night vision" lights, but they were not. According to WSPA, these purple lights are actually part of a major LED light malfunction.

These defects are being seen in multiple areas across the US, and WSPA  went on to say,

Duke Energy has been upgrading many of their older and less efficient lights with LED lighting over the past few years. Several hundreds of these white, street lights across the Upstate are now malfunctioning causing the lights to gradually turn deep purple.

This malfunction is most likely what we are seeing right here in Iowa. Many different utility companies are using these exact same types of LED lights and are seeing the same issue. Experts believe this is the result of one bad batch of lights being distributed across the entire country, not just the QC.

Is This A Problem?

By 2022 Reports from all over the world have seen these purple lights so it's not just a Midwestern thing.

While it might not look that bad, it can cause some visual issues while driving for some, overall the light just gives off a very dark purple tint and isn't working as well as it should be. Overall, it is a pretty minor problem. Though one would hope there are plans to fix it.

Are They Getting Fixed?

Some areas managed to fix the issue faster than others. Certain areas reportedly saw replacement last year. Iowa has been working on fixing them since March according to kcci.com

The Iowa Department of Transportation says the white coating is coming off of about 200 lights, turning them a pretty, but problematic purple.

As early as last week people reportedly saw work on street lights being done in Davenport Iowa. The work was being done to the purple lights at night. Could this be the start of the massive light replacement in Iowa?

Just when we started getting used to them, they vanished and get fixed. Thankfully these fixes will keep the road safe.