NEWS

Big 4 to get $2 million worth of dancing lights

Sheldon S. Shafer
The Courier-Journal
  • Officials awarded a %241.95 million contract to Advanced Electrical Systems Inc. %28AES%29 of Louisville
  • The system will include intense spotlights and wide-beam floodlights as well as flat LEDs
  • Estimate say more than 1 million people have been on the Big Four since it opened in February 2013

The Big Four Bridge will soon be decked out in special computerized lighting capable of illuminating the span in patterns of dancing, colorful lighting that will be visible for miles up and down river.

The changing light patterns "will be the crown jewel of the whole Big Four project," said David Karem, executive director of the Waterfront Development Corp., which oversees the park and the Big Four for the city. "The lighting should make the Big Four, which is already perhaps the most popular attraction in the city, even more popular."

Waterfront officials conservatively estimate that more than 1 million people have been on the Big Four since it opened in February 2013.

On behalf of the waterfront agency, metro government purchasing officials recently awarded a $1.95 million contract to Advanced Electrical Systems Inc. (AES) of Louisville for the lighting project. The contract calls for the lighting to be installed by mid-January, said Mike Kimmel, the waterfront agency's deputy director.

AES submitted the low of three bids to do the lighting, with more than half the cost to go for about 1,500 LED lights, wiring, fiberoptics and conduits. Each light should last at least 10 years and require almost no maintenance. Each should be roughly the equivalent of a 150-watt conventional bulb, Kimmel said.

The lights will be on roughly from dusk to dawn. A computer stationed at an undisclosed location will be pre-programmed to provide what may be almost nightly displays of changing color patterns.

The lights also can be programmed to be varied for different occasions, such as green for Saint Patrick's Day or red and green for Christmas. Or, they could have a pattern of red and blue to promote a UK-U of L sporting event or feature pink to promote breast-cancer awareness.

Marlene Grissom, the waterfront agency's chief fund-raiser, was primarily responsible for assembling the financing to cover the cost of the lighting. The fundraising is on-going, with some additional money sought for any contingencies, Grissom said.

Contributions came from about 70 sources, with major money including $566,000 from state government, $500,000 from the James Graham Brown Foundation, $350,000 from the Gallapolooza project, $100,000 from the city, $100,000 from Grissom and her husband, businessman David Grissom, and $75,000 from LG&E.

"It may take a while to develop the light patterns we want, but, in the end, they are going to be cool," Kimmel said.

The lighting will have the added safety element of at least slightly increasing the brightness of the cross-river span, which is open 24-7, Kimmel said.

Kimmel said the bridge will not be closed to bike and foot traffic during the project, although half the bridge's width may be roped off in the immediate vicinity where crews are working. Work probably will not be done at night or on weekends, when use is heaviest, Kimmel said.

Among a dozen or so U.S. cities with bridges with similar decorative lighting are the Peace Bridge in Buffalo, N.Y., the Bay Bridge in San Francisco, and a bridge in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Reporter Sheldon S. Shafer can be reached at (502) 582-7089. Follow him on Twitter at @sheldonshafer.

To contribute

To make a tax-deductible donation to the bridge-lighting project, call (502) 574-3768 or send a check to: Big Four Bridge lighting; Waterfront Development Corp., 129 E. River Road, Louisville KY 40202.