Air carrier captain reported taxi error due to poor airport lighting.

Narrative:

We pushed back from [gate] and our taxi instruction was taxiway G to runway 9L; cross runway 21R; then taxiway west for runway 21L departure. And unfortunately I missed the left turn onto taxiway west. However quickly realized it and stopped just past taxiway west. Contacted ground and advised them. They asked us if we could make 180 turn which we replied yes and so they cleared us to do so and from then on operation was normal. Upon landing at our destination I contacted tower and discussed the event with supervisor and we both agreed that having more lights on could help avoiding such issues. Not much lighting on the taxiway signs and being a night time operation as well as the fact that I got slightly distracted as first officer was running before takeoff check list and he sort of had his head down. I'll have more lights on next time I taxi at night and pay much closer attention to the taxiway signage.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier Captain reported taxi error due to poor airport lighting.

Narrative: We pushed back from [gate] and our taxi instruction was Taxiway G to Runway 9L; cross Runway 21R; then Taxiway W for Runway 21L departure. And unfortunately I missed the left turn onto Taxiway W. However quickly realized it and stopped just past Taxiway W. Contacted Ground and advised them. They asked us if we could make 180 turn which we replied yes and so they cleared us to do so and from then on operation was normal. Upon landing at our destination I contacted Tower and discussed the event with Supervisor and we both agreed that having more lights on could help avoiding such issues. Not much lighting on the taxiway signs and being a night time operation as well as the fact that I got slightly distracted as first officer was running before takeoff check list and he sort of had his head down. I'll have more lights on next time I taxi at night and pay much closer attention to the taxiway signage.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1698257
Time
Date	201911
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	DTW.Airport
State Reference	MI
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Commercial Fixed Wing
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Taxi
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Ground Incursion Taxiway Ground Incursion Runway