Reusing the contentious accent lights on the new Traffic Bridge could cost more than their original half-million-dollar price tag.
The no-win question of what to do with the bridge's programmable LED lights — reuse them, scrap them or buy new flood-style lights — will go before a city committee next week alongside a package of ideas for the $30-million steel-truss replacement bridge.
The planning and operations committee Tuesday will decide whether to add power to the bridge so the new bridge could be used to stage concerts, festivals and charity events; to include viewing bays to the attached walkways; and to spend more than $1 million to take down, store and reuse the 103-year-old heritage structure.
Councillors on the committee must decide what to do with the bridge's $462,000 string of LED accent lights that were put up in 2007. The lights have become a lightning rod for some people's dissatisfaction with city spending priorities.
Retaining the lights, in part or in full, will cost an estimated $375,000 to $500,000, depending on the number of lights that can be salvaged, the report says.
The estimates aren't detailed and would require council approval, said Chris Hallam, the city's manager of construction and design.
The more lights that can be reused, the lower the price, but there are basic labour costs for pulling the lights down from the condemned structure and putting them back up again, Hallam said.
Buying new architectural lighting — likely more subtle floodlights — would cost $400,000 to $550,000.
The flood light concept would be similar to what's been done with the Langevin Bridge in Calgary, which crosses the Bow River to the city's downtown, and the Peace Bridge, a 1927 steel arch bridge across the Niagara River, the report says. The 100-year-old Langevin Bridge was rigged with 5,600 LED lights in 2009 for $370,000 and has received positive reviews. Lighting the Peace Bridge with LED flood lights cost $1.2 million in 2008.
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