|
On
January 30, 2005, when Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn threw
the switch and the lights sparkled for the first time on
the Vincent Thomas Bridge it was hard to determine who
beamed brighter: The new blue LED lights or the residents
of San Pedro, California, who after 17 years of setbacks
finally saw their bridge adorned with the lights they had
long envisioned. Funding, energy shortages, migrating birds
and a pair of nesting peregrine falcons had all thwarted
previous attempts to string lights across the mile-long
span. While frustrating, the delays proved beneficial in
the end. Advances in lighting technology enabled the ideal
solution - Blue LEDs, which weren’t available in
1988 when the campaign began to light the bridge. The Blue
LED lamps that crown the bridge’s cables were provided
by Southern California-located LEDtronics Inc., owned by
Pakistani-American Pervaiz Lodhie. “They work as
we expected, but seeing all the LED lamps lit up was amazing,” remarked
Lodhie.
Poised elegantly above the main channel of the Los Angeles Harbor, the
Vincent Thomas Bridge serves a multitude of functions in the local
community and beyond. It is the official welcoming monument for the
City of Los Angeles. As the 3rd longest suspension bridge in California,
behind the Golden Gate and San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, it is
a source of local pride. And, the Vincent Thomas Bridge plays an
integral part in the economies of Los Angeles, Southern California
and the United States as it is the main conduit through which goods
flow from the Los Angeles Harbor to the nation’s network of
highways and stores.
Lodhie was brought into the project by Lighting Design Alliance of Long
Beach who, on the behalf of the Vincent Thomas Bridge Lighting Committee,
investigated LEDs as a viable solution for lighting the bridge. LEDs
are small but strikingly bright lights that use only a fraction of
the electricity incandescent lights consume. Additionally, they operate
for years and are nearly indestructible. For over five years, Lodhie
collaborated with community leaders, civil agencies and environmentalists
to develop an LED light that would be acceptable to all parties.
Several variations of LED lamps were tested before the solar-powered,
360-Blue LED lamp received the go-ahead.
More...
|
