'Live' bridge lights will pulse to beat of the city [video]

The Walnut Street Bridge vibrates with heavy pedestrian traffic Sunday afternoon as temperatures soar into the mid-60s, with ample sunshine.
The Walnut Street Bridge vibrates with heavy pedestrian traffic Sunday afternoon as temperatures soar into the mid-60s, with ample sunshine.

At first it looks like the lights on the historic Jacques Cartier Bridge in Montreal are just reflecting nighttime commuters' homeward paths.

Then the electronic flashes start climbing and descending the steel trusses, looking like a cloud of colored fireflies. The flash and glow is triggered by data that could come from anywhere - from traffic patterns to fans retweeting Lady Gaga during a Montreal concert.

It's called "data responsiveness," and it could be coming to Chattanooga's historic Walnut Street Bridge as part of a major repair and renovation project.

City Public Art Committee director Katelyn Kirnie showed a video of the Cartier bridge to Chattanooga City Council members Tuesday. They're supposed to vote next week whether to award a lighting-design contract to Moment Factory, the multinational firm behind the Montreal project, to create dramatic and artistic lighting for Chattanooga's beloved bridge.

The Cartier bridge's LED lights highlight the truss steel structure and can be synced to respond in colors and patterns to a variety of data.

"So many amazing bridges in the country are being lit in artistic and creative ways," Kirnie said.

Such a project on the Walnut Street Bridge, saved from destruction by Chattanooga citizens and now a destination and gathering place, "would be "an identity-maker, a placemaker and [would] build connections even further with an iconic element of our city," she said.

Kirnie said there's a budget of $2 million to update the "very outdated" lighting as part of the makeover. The city is paying 20 percent of the $14 million bridge project, with some of the money coming from lodging taxes. The remaining 80 percent is federal funding.

Planning has been underway for months, she said, and a selection committee voted 12-1 for Moment Factory to do the work.

If the council votes yes on Tuesday, the design will take about six weeks. The Public Art Committee will pay the $50,000 cost of the design, she said.

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