The 6m tall light columns have been installed along the cycleway between Dunedin and Maia and plans to continue the same design across two harbour causeways to Port Chalmers has alarmed some residents.
"They're so high that they'll ruin the whole landscape. Why are we using 6m lights to light up 2m people on bikes? Why can't it be at knee-height? We don't need to light the world," Burkes resident Sarah Manning said last week.
"In this day and age, we don't need more huge chunks of metal. It's got to be something that doesn't impact so much on the environment. These things look like they're from the Victorian ages."
International tourists would be "horrified" by the lighting columns, Jan Landmann, of St Leonards, said.
"We've got such a beautiful harbour. Why can't we do something in harmony, that doesn't detract from the landscape?
"These are world-class views and we should be doing it properly. All the cruise ship passengers who come past are going to see them and wonder what on earth we were thinking."
The New Zealand Transport Agency confirmed on Friday that 12 of the 6m lighting columns would be used across the two harbour causeways, between Maia and St Leonards.
"The lighting of the shared path as far as Maia was installed by the Dunedin City Council," Otago-Southland acting state highways manager Ian Duncan said.
"The DCC undertook the evaluation of lighting columns and lanterns that would meet the following criteria: minimising light spill, ensuring durability in a marine environment, minimising the risk of vandalism and value for money.
"Continuing with the same lighting columns provides visual consistency and efficient maintenance. Those that are a lower height are not as effective in minimising light spill and more likely to be vandalised. There would also need to be more of them, adding to the cost of the work."
The green galvanised steel columns supported 70-watt metal halide lamps and would be spaced about 40m apart, Mr Duncan said.
"About 12 lighting columns would be needed on each of the two harbour causeways."
The NZTA had already installed underground ducts as part of the construction contract.
The Dunedin Astronomical Society "Dark Skies Group" had praised the light columns, when they were revealed in the ODT, in October, 2009, Mr Duncan said.
The installation cost of the lighting columns was unavailable, as it was subject to the tender process.
The NZTA believed the lighting columns were the most satisfactory solution for the cycleway, DCC transportation operations department policy engineer Pieter Besuijen said on Friday.
"My impression is that some people prefer the installation of bollard-type lighting, or no lighting, along the causeways. Such lighting is likely to be unsatisfactory regarding light levels, vandalism and cost," he said.
He suggested that any proposals for an alternative design should be forwarded to the NZTA.
Tenders close on December 20 and the successful tenderer would start work at the end of January and complete the project by May.
