I was out at the river yesterday with some colleagues who were preparing for the Regatta this weekend. The Byer's Ave. bridge as well as the Eastern Ave. bridge have been equipped with LED lighting under the bridge. It is to be unveiled tonight. I tried finding an article on it but I can't seem to find one anywhere. I have seen them with my own eyes so I know they are there. I heard it on the noon news as well that they will unveil them tonight however they only mentioned the Eastern Ave. Bridge. Either way, it's great news that OKC leaders are realizing the value water features (i.e. the river) and beautification projects have on our city. Now if we can only get them to paint the rusted metal supports on the bottom side of bridges a nice green or blue color.

Futhermore, a new custom designed PA system is in the process of being installed for river events. I also noticed a bunch of new landscaping around the boathouse area. I'll try to take pics of all this this weekend at the Regatta. It starts tomorrow and goes through Sunday!!!

I was wondering about the lights. I have been watching the crews put the electical in and asked Tempe Knopp about it and she told me about the lights. She was very excited and said that they would change colors and flash and all kinds of cool stuff. When I was out there Saturday and didn't see anything but hearing that they are under the bridge now makes sense to me. Can't wait to ck it out.

This is neat! Pretty is good!

The OG&E TogeTHER Lightscape was unveiled
to the media tonight. It is only the byers avenue
bridge over the Oklahoma River just to the east
of the Chesapeake Boathouse. The lights were installed
for the regatta, but will be permanent......designed by
Rand Elliott

KFOR will feature it tomorrow. It was on Fox News tonight as
well as channel 5.

The official unveiling will be tomorrow night around 8PM.

http://www.smithlighting.com/lightscape/byers1.jpg

http://www.smithlighting.com/lightscape/byers2.jpg

every one of the bridges need this!!! excellent!

I wish OKC could do something like this. These are 3 bridges in downtown Jax

Painet Royalty Free photo of hart bridge night jacksonville florida brdige jacksonvile (http://www.painetworks.com/previewsrf/jb/jb2891.html)
Bluebridge on Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/barryatkins/364637650/)
Main Street Bridge Downtown JAX on Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/marrngtn/476282210/)

However, just saw the ones posted above and wow that looks good.

That's really cool!

It's beautiful! I love fiber optics.. on pools they look so cool at night, changing colors. On a river, I'll bet it's going to be awesome.

Actually they are color changing LED's and not fiber optics

http://olive.newsok.com/Repository/getimage.dll?path=DOK/2007/10/11/4/Img/Pc0040800.jpg

Wow! Wow! Wow! and Wow!

The LED think is definitely a big thing for bridges now...

Ohio's new $250M bridge has them.

http://glasscityjungle.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/veterans-glasscity-201.JPG

http://glasscityjungle.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/veterans-glasscity-209.JPG

http://glasscityjungle.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/veterans-glasscity-215.JPG

Actually they are color changing LED's and not fiber optics

Yeah I know.. I was just sort of comparing it to similar lighting effects while remembering our neighbor's pool that had fiber optic lighting and how beautiful the water was at night when it changed colors ... like the LED lights on the bridge. Changing colors reflecting off water.. same concept.

I always actually wished we had installed fiber optics on our pool. We actually had to manually change the light covers on the lights! Can you imagine? lol

I don't think any city tops Miami when it comes to bridge lighting, almost all their bridges and waterways have nice lighting. Here are a few snaps:

FDOT Structures Design Office - Aesthetic Bridge Lighting (http://www.dot.state.fl.us/structures/botm/bridgelighting/lighting.htm)

Port of Miami Bridge on Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrclean/439305546/in/set-72157594489956896/)

Pictures of Freedom Tower Beyond the Port of Miami Bridge CB054088 - Search Stock Photos, Images, Photographs, and Photo Clip Art - CB054088.jpg (http://www.fotosearch.com/DGT076/cb054088/)

Miami pictures - Yahoo! Travel (http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-191501910-miami_vacations-i?action=pictures) (definitely check this one out)

Miami pictures - Yahoo! Travel (http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-191501910-miami_vacations-i?action=pictures)

That looks great. It will be really cool for the regatta. They definitely need to put it on all the bridges.

I wish we'd replace them with nicer bridges though. More like what Tulsa has.

Tulsa has one nice bridge, the 23rd (or 21st depending on who you're talking to) Street bridge is great with its arches and lighting. All of the others are just like OKC, the very plain 'causeway' style.

Until the bridges can actually be replaced the LED lights are a great solution. One of the things I would really like to see is a new I-35 bridge built over the river. They will be redoing that entire interchange soon anyways, why not build a new bridge in the process? Something really nice with suspension cables or arches and great lighting. Just imagine driving through OKC over the river on this really cool bridge with the downtown skyline right there!