Lionel Lutley at the commissioning of the Hugh L. Carey Road Tunnel, May 2018.
Earlier this year, Principal Engineer Lionel Lutley became the chairperson for Sub-Task Groups 3 & 4 of RP-22, a group within the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IES) that develops the Standard Practice for Road Tunnel Lighting. The focus of these tasks is to review tunnel threshold and portal luminance lighting levels to address public concerns.
Lionel has been a member of the IES Roadway Lighting Committee for several years. The group works with the IES North America standards committee to improve lighting standards, and Lionel's participation is one sign of his many contributions to the field.
Based in New York City, Lionel has more than 25 years of design experience in emergency electrical systems design for railways, stations, transit, light rail, and road tunnel designs in North America and worldwide.
Lionel is also working with the National Fire Protection Association's committees for NFPA502 (Standard for Road Tunnels) and NFPA130 (Standard for Transit and Rail Systems) to introduce wayfinding and emergency exit door lighting to road and rail tunnels.
This topic addresses concerns that a fire event in a tunnel may cause smoke to become stratified (distributed) throughout the tunnel and obscure the "normal" and "emergency" lighting located above the stratified level. Wayfinding at low level and emergency lighting at each exit door will enable passengers to navigate to the nearest exits and escape routes more easily in a fire scenario.