It's an eye-popping treat for travelers as they go across the Brazos River in Waco. Tuesday evening, thousands of people gathered to watch the official “flipping of the switch” on the new Brazos River Bridges lights.
The Texas Department of Transportation, City of Waco, and Baylor University teamed up to make the specialty lighting system a reality.
TxDOT and the contractor, Lane Construction, purchased and installed the lights. Baylor contributed additional funding to upgrade the system to a state-of-the art computerized light show. The City of Waco will maintain the system, and a Bridge Lighting Committee set up by the city will help decide how to use the lighting according to an established policy.
And it is a spectacular display. The bridges feature multi-colored decorative LED lights on the bridge columns and cables, which are run by a computer-operated program.
Designed by Karl Burkett of Maldonado-Burkett Intelligent Transportation Systems, LLC., the hundreds of lights can be any color and intensity. According to a news release, Burkett said this allows for an almost infinite variety in the colors displayed on the bridges.
The nightly rotation will last an hour and a half to two hours. And the system was designed so the lights can be enjoyed from all directions.
