More stretches of A-roads in East Yorkshire will go dark as thousands more street lights are switched off in a move aimed at helping the environment and saving money in the long run.

A ground-breaking national project led by the East Riding Council aiming to cut energy and carbon emissions in street lighting along roads is being rolled out across the area, after proving a major success.

The council was awarded £3.3m by the Department for Transport for a three-year study into more environmentally friendly ways of lighting main roads.

It is now expanding the project, adding a further 54 sites, and switching off another 2,500 street lights, after being awarded a further £2m from the Hull and East Yorkshire Combined Authority.

Pilots are also starting in other parts of the country including in Derbyshire, Aberdeenshire and Lancashire.

The initial study, which began in 2023, saw 458 streetlights switched off along the 31-mile stretch of the A1079 from Hull to York and on the A164, with new reflecting road studs, improved road signs, brighter white lines and lighting specifically for pedestrians installed.

After a year monitoring driver behaviour and safety, using cameras and AI, the independently verified results showed that speeds were down 10 per cent, night-time collisions had been reduced by a third, and the changes made no negative impact on driver behaviour.

The pilot is now on track to reduce carbon emissions by 160 tonnes and save £1.2m of public money over the next 10 years.

Project manager Karl Rourke said the latest project will cost £4m and deliver “really big savings” of £5.6m in the first 10 years.

The roads are across the East Riding and are all “out of town roads, bypasses and major A-roads”, he said. "We are not focussing on residential areas or town centres.”

When the pilot first went live, he spent an anxious night fearing the project would go wrong and there would be an accident.

He said he was most proud of the “fact drivers have taken to it naturally and safety has improved, something I have done, that has made roads safer, that’s brilliant.

"It has made drivers more aware, more cautious, less complacent.”

The white lines are “twice as reflective as before” as there are more glass beads in the paint, and the road signs are motorway grade. Mr Rourke was also pleased that more pedestrians are using walkways at night following changes to lighting along Raich Carter Way in Hull and in Hayton village, on the A1079.

The street lights have been reduced in height from 10m to 3m, bringing them below the tree canopy so foliage no longer blocks light, creating dark patches and each light is just six watts, rather than 60.

The project has won 10 industry awards in the past year.

Councillor Paul West said: "We are incredibly proud of this scheme and the small team running it, because it shows the East Riding is leading the way in what could soon become a nationwide change."