Los Cabos Enhancing Outdoor Lighting To Increase Safety For Tourists

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The local Los Cabos government continues to take important actions to keep visitors safe while they enjoy the many different amenities of the beach resort destination. A recent focus of their efforts, and investments, has been on reducing the headaches and risks tourist pedestrians and motorists face when visiting the town on vacation.

Recently, the local government announced a new construction project aimed at enhancing safety on the key toll road in the area. The toll road, which connects the airport to communities in Los Cabos, will soon be adding features such as “retornos”, or u-turns, to reduce traffic and help with driver safety.

Another recently announced transportation infrastructure project will connect Los Cabos with the rest of Baja California by train. This hopefully will also reduce some of the heavy traffic and safety issues currently faced by visitors to Los Cabos. Traffic is one of the key infrastructure issues many tourists cite as a headache when visiting the rapidly growing resort destination.

Enhancing the Lighting for Safety

One current area of local government concentration for improving the safety of Los Cabos drivers and tourists is on enhancing the overall street lighting in the area. There are a number of dark areas in Los Cabos that pose a crime and safety hazard to tourists and locals.

According to Leonel Leyva Luna, the general director of Public Services in Los Cabos, nearly 7,400 street lights have been installed so far to better keep tourists safe. The street lights have been installed in high-priority areas in key areas around Los Cabos.

The feedback for the locations that needed the additional lighting came directly from submissions by tourists and locals. They provided feedback to the Public Services department about the need, and the department took steps to secure the funding and labor for the installations. For locals, the main need is to fix the lighting around schools and community centers. For tourists, the principal concern was the roads and several of the popular public plazas.

Los Cabos has committed to continue the government’s investment in lighting until every tourist location in the community needing the service is covered. In fact, they have a team of more than a dozen workers assigned to the task. They survey the streets and other recommended areas needing lights every day and report back their findings to the Public Services department. An estimated 98 percent of the recommendations make the list.

Visitor Growth Increasing Infrastructure Need

The process continues the efforts by the Los Cabos government to update and upgrade the infrastructure as Los Cabos continues to face an increased number of visitors. Projections are calling for a 15 percent increase in visitation this year, yet another recording-breaking tourism year.

The increased recognition of Los Cabos resorts as being some of the best in the world, and resulting publicity, has also put the destination in the spotlight with visitors.

As with many boom towns, the infrastructure in Los Cabos has lagged behind the growth, and the government has been working with the federal government to try to stay ahead of it.

Environmental Concerns

The Los Cabos Public Services department added that the street lights being installed are energy-saving, high-efficiency LED lamps designed to enhance the area in addition to providing the needed safety for visitors.

The lighting should actually help reduce the cost of added lighting due to the high-efficiency bulbs. They should also last longer, meaning that the need to constantly replace the bulbs in the community will be reduced by the investment.

Residents of Los Cabos have expressed concern that the added high-efficiency lighting may cause issues for the local wildlife in the area. The government has assured the community that the lighting is similar to that in other tourist areas and should not have any negative impact on the wildlife in Los Cabos.

There are currently 23,000 street lights in Los Cabos, and public officials have pledged to provide additional lighting for recreation centers, streets, and tourist locations to address the concerns of travelers.