Governor Cuomo reveals new details about LED light shows coming to NYC bridges and tunnels
The George Washington Bridge outfitted with the new LED lights
“This is very exciting. This project is going to blow people away,” Governor Cuomo told the Post about his plan to outfit the city’s bridges and tunnels with multi-colored, energy-efficient LED lighting systems. In fact, he went so far as to say that these toll crossings would become the city’s newest tourist attraction. Part of his larger $500 million New York Harbor Crossings Project, the lighting program called “The City That Never Sleeps” will take on different colors and patterns, be choreographed with music for holidays and events, and be visible from miles away.
Previous renderings of the New York Harbor Crossings Project
As 6sqft previously explained, the Crossing Project will revamp the tolling systems at all seven MTA-operated bridges and its two tunnels–the Robert F. Kennedy, Throgs Neck, Verrazano-Narrows, Bronx-Whitestone, Henry Hudson, Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial, and Cross Bay Veterans Memorial bridges and the Queens-Midtown and Hugh Carey (formerly Battery) tunnels. The main component is to install new cashless collection systems by the end of this year as a way to speed up traffic, thereby saving commuters time and significantly reducing carbon emissions.
A rendering of the light displays from miles away. “If you’re in Queens, you can see the lights at the Throgs Neck and the Whitestone [bridges],” Cuomo told the Post.
In addition to the crossings listed above, the “The City That Never Sleeps” will also be incorporated at the Port Authority’s Hudson River Crossings, including the George Washington Bridge, and the Thruway Authority’s Tappan Zee Bridge. The LED lights will have festive uses such as turning rainbow for LGBT pride month or taking on the colors local sports teams, but they’ll also take into consideration energy efficiency, using between 40 and 80 percent less power than traditional road lighting and lasting up to six times as long. The lights will be installed over the next three years.
[Via NYP]
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