Drive-over Inground Lighting is No Walk in the Park
What load ratings really mean for inground lighting
Drive-over inground lighting is not a single product category. The term can cover small fixtures installed in a pedestrian plaza, lighting set into a driveway or continuous lines buried in roads that carry repeated traffic every day.
Each application creates a different type of load. That load should determine the product you specify. Get it wrong and lenses can crack, seals can fail and water can enter the fixture long before its expected service life is over.
Three very different load cases
Walk-over lighting is designed mainly for foot traffic. Its rating may also cover cleaning equipment and occasional lightweight service carts.
Drive-over lighting must withstand vehicles. That means more than the overall weight of a car or truck. The fixture also faces concentrated wheel loads and the sideways forces created by braking, turning and maneuvering at low speed.
Buried ground lighting is installed in soil, landscaping or paving where water, ground movement and drainage may present a greater threat than direct vehicle loading.
A product rated for one application is not automatically suitable for another. It sounds obvious, but specifications often describe products simply as “inground” without stating what traffic they can support.
Ask for the load rating in terms that match the application:
- Pedestrian use
- Light vehicle use
- Regular or high-traffic vehicle use
Why below-grade lighting has a harder life
The ground is a rough place to put electronics. Water can collect around the fixture and test every seal. Temperatures shift between cold soil and a lens heated by sunlight. Grit works its way into joints, while deicing salts and other contaminants can attack exposed metal.
Failure can be a particular concern with inground linear lighting when the installation depends on multiple joints, complex metal housings or components that are difficult to reach once buried.
A below-grade fixture survives because of its materials, sealing and installation design, not simply its light output. A bright product that allows water inside quickly becomes a rather expensive puddle ornament.
For serious drive-over inground lighting, the specification should start with:
- The lens and structural load rating
- Housing materials
- Water ingress protection
- Drainage and ground conditions
- Access for future servicing
The light source matters, but it should not be the first question.
How FortaCast handles drive-over inground lighting
FortaCast® is cast as a continuous line rather than installed as a row of separate fixtures. This reduces the number of joints and potential entry points for water.
The system is built for drive-over applications and is specified for flood exposure and fire resistance. Its lighting elements are designed for a long service life and can be replaced without lifting the lens or disturbing the surrounding surface.
That becomes particularly valuable after installation. When the lighting eventually needs servicing, the solution should not involve digging the entire system out of the ground.
FortaCast drive-over inground lighting is IP68 rated. This means it is dust-tight and protected against continuous immersion under the conditions defined by the manufacturer. It is also specified as flood-proof.
Specify for the conditions below the surface
When specifying drive-over inground lighting, load resistance is only part of the decision.
The fixture also needs to cope with water, temperature changes, contamination, ground movement and the practical reality of future maintenance.
A successful installation starts by matching the product to the traffic above it and the conditions surrounding it below ground.
For detailed load, installation and ingress-protection information, see our FortaCast drive-over inground lighting web pages.
