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JTA Begins Testing New Acosta Bridge LED Lights

The Jacksonville Transportation Authority is setting up a new light display on Jacksonville’s Acosta Bridge.

The blue neon lights that were installed on the bridge in the late 1990s went dark four years ago after someone noticed electricity arcing from them to the Skyway tracks.

The JTA Board agreed late last year to spend up to $2.6 million to ditch the neon and switch to LED lighting.

Spokesman David Cawton said Friday JTA recently conducted its first test of the new lights to see how they would do.

“We started this around dusk so you can see how bright they are maybe right when they turn on, when the sun’s still up and you’ve still got a little bit of a sunset, versus what they’ll look like in the dark of night.”

Cawton said the goal is to have the new lights up and running in time for the next Fourth of July.

Contact reporter Cyd Hoskinson at choskinson@wjct.org, 904-358-6351 and on Twitter at @cydwjctnews.

Cyd Hoskinson began working at WJCT on Valentine’s Day 2011.