highmast

A highmast is a very tall lighting tower, typically used to illuminate large areas such as highway interchanges, airports, seaports, and industrial sites. These structures are designed to elevate light fixtures to a significant height, ensuring broad coverage and minimizing the number of poles required. Highmasts are often constructed from steel and can range in height from 20 to over 60 meters.

The primary advantage of highmast lighting is its ability to provide uniform illumination over extensive areas. This is crucial for safety in environments with high vehicle traffic or complex layouts. The elevated position of the lights reduces glare for drivers or operators and minimizes shadow areas.

Highmasts are often equipped with a winch system, allowing the luminaire cage, which houses the lights, to be lowered to ground level for maintenance. This greatly simplifies the process of lamp replacement, cleaning, or repair, as it eliminates the need for specialized aerial equipment like cranes or cherry pickers. The design of the luminaire cage can vary, accommodating a range of lighting technologies including high-pressure sodium, metal halide, and increasingly, LED lamps. The selection of light source and fixture design is critical in achieving the desired light levels and uniformity for the specific application.