Leo Villareal, an international artist most famously known for inspired by the Eiffel Tower's twinkle wants to turn the West Span of the Bay Bridge in to an even larger, more sophisticated light show called the Bay Lights. The light sculpture, intended to commemorate the bridge's 75th anniversary (the diamond anniversary, you know) will incorporate 25,000 LED lights strung from the vertical support cables facing the city's northeast waterfront, making it visible to awestruck onlookers on the Embarcadero.
According to Villareal, the lights (energy efficient, naturally) would be programmed to match the winds and tides in the bay. Judging from the rendering video below, it's a much more pleasing and ambient look than the flashy lightshow in Paris, and at seven times the scale.
For now, the project is still in the proposal stage — It still needs to get an OK from CalTrans who will make sure the lights won't distract drivers on the bridge. In the meantime, the project still needs funding, which the artist is gathering through "heroic donations" on causes.com. Generous bridge lovers have currently raised over half of the surprisingly modest $10,000 project cost.
If everything comes together the light show will stay up from the project's completion until the new East Span of the Bay Bridge opens in 2013. Below: an artist's rendering of the twinkling bridge, and the local news take from ABC7:
Update: Villareal wasn't responsible for the Eiffel Tower lights ("inspired by", rather). He is, as SFist commenter Jason S. notes, responsible for the "Multiverse" installation at the National Gallery of Art in DC.
