Light the Bridge campaign gets green light from committee

EDMONTON – A project led by the local business community to light the High Level Bridge was given the green light by city committee Monday.

The budget for the project – which will be paid for through corporate and citizen donations, not tax dollars – is about $3 million.

“The $3 million covers absolutely everything to flick the switch and make the bridge light up,” says Dave Mowat, president and CEO of ATB, and one of the local business leaders behind the Light the Bridge campaign.

He says the $3 million will cover all the capital costs, which includes materials, programmability, and even teaching people in Edmonton how to program and run the lights.

Operational costs will be covered by the city in its lighting budget, but Mowat stresses the advanced technology makes the operational budget low.

“The total cost to light the bridge 375 days a year, eight hours a day – a night – is about $18,000 – that’s three or four households, it’s remarkable.”

Mowat adds the bulbs last ten or twelve years.

He says the bridge will be decked out in a state-of-the-art light design which can be synchronized to music, adding Edmonton’s arts community has been incredibly supportive of the project, as has the business community.

“We can identify about half a million dollars and we haven’t even started. It’s really just, nobody has said no,” says Mowat.

“People who’ve been really successful, and Edmonton’s been great to them, they’ve been – it’ll bring tears to your eyes, it’s amazing how generous they are.”

Mowat foresees the bridge being lit up in green and gold to mark University of Alberta homecoming celebrations or dancing to the music of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra during an outdoor concert in the river valley.

He says the bridge could even boost spirits on a gloomy cold day.

“Just imagine today, you wake up to snow … you’d look right past the snow, and you’d just see this amazing bridge.”

The goal: to reinforce pride in the city.

“I think we’re at a spot where governments can’t possibly do everything we want to do as a society… this one is talking about our pride in our city and what better way to show our pride and kind of vote with our feet.; you’re going to vote for a little $25 or $50 or a $1000 contribution, and that’s people kind of both getting excited about the project but also contributing to it.”

To learn more about the project or to offer support through the buy-a-bulb campaign, visit lightthebridge.ca.

Organizers believe they can raise all the funds needed by the end of the summer, and hope the lights can be installed before the end of the year.

“This bridge is a hundred years old and we’ve got a real short timeline to raise the money,” admits Mowat.  “But the truth of the matter is if it took us a little longer than that, and it was a couple of months, it’s still going to be an amazing project. The big thing is – what everybody has told us – is do it right.”

“You can actually go… lightthebridge.ca  is up and operating right now. Officially, council won’t see this until next week, and that will be the official drop of the checkered flag, but you can’t stop progress.”

“It’s great,” says Mayor Stephen Mandel. “I give Dave Mowat tremendous credit, and EPCOR. It’s going to be very nice and interesting to have our High Level Bridge lit up, and without any taxpayer dollars. Too often we have too many taxpayer dollars into things, but unfortunately sometimes, it’s impossible to get things done if we don’t do it ourselves.”

City Councillor Ben Henderson sees the city acting as a facilitator.

“Help encourage them and not get in the way… and I think the city would love to see it happen, but again, that’s a citizen-driven project, that’s not a city-driven project.”

EPCOR will act as construction manager on the project. The company assures Edmontonians that the construction will not impact traffic on the bridge.

“The lights will be put up on the outside of the bridge, they won’t have any impact on traffic flow,” explains Bob Petryk of EPCOR Utilities.

Petryk also addressed potential light pollution concerns.

“Given the size of the bridge, the height and the span, and the colour, the lights will all be focused on the bridge, there will be nothing reflecting into the water or into the sky.”

He says, so far, the response from the community – and council – has been encouraging.

“I think you saw the enthusiasm this morning and the amount of community support we have, so we’re pretty confident this is going to move very quickly.”

City council will decide whether to approve the project next week.

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