Veterans' Glass City Skyway Opens!
After 6 years of construction the new I-280 bridge in Toledo, OH (officially known as the Veterans' Glass City Skyway) opened on June 24, 2007. Designed by Figg Engineering Group, the bridge is the single largest project ever undertaken by the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT). One of the primary features is the 4 sided center pylon that is lit internally by over 350 Color Kinetics Color Blast 12s. Each fixture is capable of producing 16.7 million different additive RGB colors making the glass in the pylon a blank canvas for the design committee. In addition to the Color Kinetics hardware, an ETC Unison processor acts as an astronomical clock to accurately turn the bridge on and off at sunrise and sunset and play the various seasonal shows year-round.
The system was designed not only to highlight the glass-making heritage of Toledo, but also to provide a high reliability low maintenance system for ODOT. The Color Kinetics fixtures are rated to 100,000 hours each which should last around 22 years at 12 hours a day. Cross Light assisted in the integration of the fixtures into the main pylon, designed and installed the control system, programmed the shows, and now provides support for ODOT. More information on the bridge can be found at http://www.lookuptoledo.org.
