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New York City has the chameleon-lighted Empire State Building. The Hudson Valley has its own version of the famous Manhattan landmark: the star-spangled Mid-Hudson Bridge. Nearly 14 million people use it each year to cross the river and most probably don”™t realize it is perhaps the only bridge in the U.S. that incorporates LED illuminating technology.
“I can”™t take credit for the bridge”™s night lighting idea,” said Greg Hurd, director of information technology for the state Bridge Authority. “That came from business community led by the Poughkeepsie Area Chamber of Commerce (now the Dutchess County Regional Chamber of Commerce), who asked us back in the early 1990s if we could incorporate some color into the bridge because it is the gateway to the city of Poughkeepsie. They wanted to make it more attractive to visitors and bring business to the downtown area.”
Chamber President Charlie North said the business community got together and petitioned the Bridge Authority.
“They put lights at the top of the bridge back in 1995; we petitioned them again and that”™s when they put the ”˜necklace lighting”™ across the span eight years ago. It”™s a nice welcome from either side of the river. For Dutchess, it”™s Poughkeepsie”™s way of keeping a porch light on, similar to the one you have at home: a welcome mat. It”™s also very calming to see it lit up in the evening.”
And, “For Highland, it”™s a way for them to say, ”˜Welcome to Highland,”™ for people traveling into Ulster. We do appreciate the Bridge Authority”™s cooperation and involvement in the community very much,” said North.
Hurd, who brought Poughkeepsie”™s request to the decision-makers at NYSBA, was thinking ahead when he was given the OK to purchase a new lighting system in 2000. “We looked into the technology available and purchased an LED-based lighting system, which cost approximately $600,000 in 2001. The cost of energy savings paid for the difference in conventional lighting, which was 10 percent less than the LED.”
By law, all bridges must be lit at night, so not only did the Mid-Hudson Bridge benefit from the purchase, but the LED program is computerized, so Hurd and his staff can change the bridge”™s color to any in the rainbow. “The lights are permanently attached to the cables. There are 250 LEDs in each one with three primary colors. By changing the intensity, we can create the color we want on the computer and save it,” said Hurd. “We have a scheduling program which kicks in on the date, and, voila! The bridge is the color we have programmed into the computer, which we can operate wirelessly from our main building, instead of having to run back and forth to do it manually.”
Right now, it is lit in red to remind travelers that February is Healthy Heart Month.
The cost of decorative lighting runs the NYSBA approximately $150 a month in electricity charges, “a fraction of the cost of conventional lighting, and residents with a view appreciate it, too,” said Hurd. “I”™ve had many calls telling me that people are rearranging their living rooms or bedrooms to face the bridge, because it”™s so attractive in the evening.”
The lighting system, installed just before the attack on the World Trade Center, was getting ready to be lit up in pink for October”™s Breast Cancer Awareness month. “On September 12, 2001, we got our first chance to use the new lighting system,” said Hurd. “We made red, white and blue to symbolize America”™s unity and to try to give people some hope at a terrible time in our history. It”™s an honor to be compared to the Empire State Building, which uses its top spiral to reflect the seasons and holidays and which sent out a beacon of hope to New Yorkers after September 11.”
Since then, the bridge”™s LED lighting system has been used for every holiday or special monthly event. Hurd says the Bridge Authority also works with the Dutchess Regional Chamber so that the chamber can have an event where the switch can be thrown to light up the bridge.
“It”™s just great, and they”™ve been so helpful to us,” said Tammy Cilione, the chamber”™s vice president of communications. “They come over and help set it up, and it”™s been great for our members and just great for the whole
