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$2.6 Million Acosta Bridge Lights May Debut In Time For 4th Of July

Workers test the LED lighting being installed along the Acosta Bridge.
JTA
Workers test the LED lighting being installed along the Acosta Bridge.

If everything stays on schedule, the Downtown Jacksonville skyline will have a colorful addition in time for Independence Day.

JTA crews were on the Acosta Bridge doing more light tests Tuesday night as part of a $2.6 million project.

The Acosta Bridge was well known for its blue lights, originally installed in 1999, until they went dark in 2014.

The new LED lighting system will allow JTA to mimic the old lights' color whenever it chooses, but also adds the benefit changing colors for special events, or coordinating lighting with other attractions, such as Friendship Fountain, which is getting a $6 million makeover that will include more dramatic lighting.

Related: Conceptual Video, Details Of Friendship Fountain's $6M Overhaul

The new Acosta lights, which will use less than half the energy as the previous incarnation, can be lit in a nearly infinite amount of colors including combinations like red, white and blue, or single hues, like Jaguars teal. 

On Tuesday night, workers tested a 48-foot LED light strip along the bridge.

Workers test the LED lighting being installed along the Acosta Bridge.
Credit JTA
Workers test the LED lighting being installed along the Acosta Bridge.
Credit The Florida Times-Union
This file photo shows the Acosta Bridge's former light system in all its glory during the 2005 Super Bowl in Jacksonville.

  

Workers test the LED lighting being installed along the Acosta Bridge.
Credit JTA
Workers test the LED lighting being installed along the Acosta Bridge.

Bill Bortzfield can be reached at bbortzfield@wjct.org, 904-358-6349 or on Twitter at @BortzInJax.

Bill joined WJCT News in September of 2017 from The Florida Times-Union, where he served in a variety of multimedia journalism positions.