by Bailey White
Staff Writer
A recent proposal may have come up with a way to uniquely identify each of Jacksonville’s seven bridges. Project architect Tri Vu believes his plan is just one way Jacksonville can show off for the 2005 Super Bowl.
“With the Super Bowl coming, it’s the perfect timing for us to show the best of the city,” said Vu, president of TTV Architects, Inc. He and the members of his firm have developed a plan for a permanent lighting of the bridges, “and this gives us an excuse to do something we’ve always wanted to do.”
Vu’s plan is for each bridge to have its own unique lighting element.
“Of the seven bridges, not one looks alike,” said Vu. “I would like to emphasize the best quality of each.”
To get the bridges online in time for the Super Bowl, Vu has proposed to light one of Jacksonville’s seven bridges every six months, starting with the Main Street Bridge.
“It’s the center of the city and it should be the first to light up,” he said.
The last bridge to be lit would be the Mathews on the day of the Super Bowl and Vu’s idea culminates in a spectacular showing on the night of the Super Bowl, when the whole city is lit up.
At the moment, funding is an issue. Vu wants local corporations to sponsor the lighting of a chosen bridge. Then, during the week of the Super Bowl, the bridge could be named after that corporation.
“Right now we’re trying to sell the idea,” said Vu. “Somebody needs to be first and if the City takes the lead it would lend credibility to the whole project. I’m certain that someone would follow.”
Though the City hasn’t yet considered whether or not they’ll fund the lighting of one of the bridges, Mayor John Delaney has expressed interest in the plan.
“The mayor is intrigued by the idea,” said spokesperson Sharon Ashton. “He’s definitely interested in looking for private sources to front some of the funding.”
Because each bridge varies in scale, size and length, Vu said the cost of each project will vary. Still, he estimates that the average cost per bridge will be $500,000.
“This isn’t a fixed number,” he said, “but we’re using it as a target.”
Vu said his team researched the cost of the Main Street Bridge plan and found that the bridge could easily be lit within the $500,000 budget.
“Another issue to consider is maintenance,” said Mike Goldman, spokesperson for the Florida Department of Transportation.
While the Jacksonville Transportation Authority and the FDOT share the upkeep of the Acosta Bridge, which is already lit, FDOT handles the Dames Point Bridge alone.
“I think the system they come up with will have to be simple enough that if something happens right before the game, the parts will be readily available,” said Goldman.
Steve Arrington, an engineer with JTA, estimated that JTA’s annual cost for energy and upkeep of the Acosta Bridge is around $2,000 and added that the Dames Point Bridge lighting has paid for itself because national commercials that have been shot on site have brought in money to the city.
“The City has made 10 times on what it cost for the lighting,” he said. “And this is something that really makes you proud to live in Jacksonville.”
Here are some of the ideas:
Buckman Bridge
The plan for this bridge, which is four miles long, is colored lights that go through a subtle change, giving the illusion of a rainbow. Because of the bridge’s length, the lights will be enjoyed by passengers on the bridge and those seeing it from across the river.
Fuller Warren Bridge
“This bridge is almost an entrance to the city,” said Vu. His proposal is to light up the underneath of the bridge to “balance the urban lights of the Northbank and the Southbank of downtown.”
Acosta Bridge
The Acosta would undergo a modernizing process. The neon lights could be replaced by light emitting diode (LED) lights which take up a fraction of the energy and are not as fragile as neon lights.
Hart Bridge
Because this bridge is so close to the stadium, Vu thinks an appropriate sponsor would be the Jacksonville Jaguars. His proposal calls for teal and gold lights, which could easily be changed into an opposing teams colors, or into colors of the NFL teams that will play in the 2005 Super Bowl “It would get the whole city excited about the game,” said Vu.
Mathews Bridge
A string of lights in the dip of the Mathews Bridge arch would emphasize the unique shape of this bridge
Dames Point Bridge
Vu believes it is one of the nicest bridges in the city, and would support leaving the bridge as is.
Main Street Bridge
“This is one of the most important bridges, and should be the first to be lit up,” said Vu. A string of lights would emphasize its arch and high intensity discharge (HID) lights could also be installed at the base of the bridges support, shooting a high, concentrated beam of light towards the top of the bridge.