In the present study, roadway luminaires using light emitting surface (LES) technology were compared in terms of photometric performance to roadway luminaires using high pressure sodium (HPS) lamps and light emitting diode (LED) sources. Measurements of light output and electrical power use revealed that the LES luminaires performed similar to the high end of the range of LED luminaires used for comparison. Spectral metrics were similar to those of LED luminaires with the same correlated color temperature (CCT). Measurements of the intensity distribution showed close correspondence with published data for roadway luminaire distributions. In general, the photometric, energy and economic performance of the LES luminaires were among those of LED luminaires evaluated for comparison, suggesting that LES technology can be feasible for roadway lighting.