Let there be light again over the Narrows

THE NEWS TRIBUNE
Last updated: December 12th, 2007 01:20 AM (PST)

How? Simply by taking $1.5 million – already appropriated by the Legislature – and using that money to hire a contractor to string decorative lights over the new Narrows bridge. Then turning over those lights, kit and kaboodle, over to the state Department of Transportation. No further obligations.

The region is that close to seeing its majestic new suspension bridge once more dramatically illuminated at night.

One doesn’t expect a big construction company to create breathtaking art. But that’s exactly what Narrows Constructors did in 2005 when it installed fluorescent work lights along the catwalks where the bridge’s main cables were being hung.

Suddenly those graceful curves sparkled in the night like vast diamond necklaces over the darkness of the Narrows.

The effect was magical – even more so when Narrows Constructors redid the lights in Christmas colors, then in Seahawks blue and green. The glowing cables were visible as far away as Olympia. It was a spellbinding sight for passengers looking down from incoming jetliners; it helped put the “Tac” back in Sea-Tac.

The bridge has been dark since last spring, when its builders no longer needed the high-altitude lamps. But countless people in the South Sound are eager to see the lights back.

A handful of activist-volunteers – organized as NarrowsBridgeLights.org – led a successful campaign to win a $1.5 million grant for the project from the 2007 Legislature. State Sen. Derek Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor, secured the money in the state capital budget.

One last obstacle: A government agency has to take the $1.5 million, ask for bids, acquire a contractor and supervise the job to completion. It’s not a big project or a complicated one.

The LED lights – to be powered by solar panels – can be quickly installed. The DOT will be happy to take over from there.

In other words, the region is waiting for an agency that knows something about construction and electricity to expand its normal mission for a short time.

Tacoma Public Utilities is an obvious candidate, though it hasn’t shown much interest to date. In fact, any public utility in the area, even a small one, would do.

Then there’s the DOT itself. It does bridges. It does lights. It does beautification – witness all the landscaping it’s done in Olympia and the decorative retaining walls it builds.

If no agency accepts the job, that $1.5 million will fund some other project in some other community that didn’t fight for it. So please, won’t some civic-minded public adminstrator out there do the South Sound a very visible favor?

Originally published: December 12th, 2007 01:20 AM (PST)