The Bay Lights have gotten plenty of attention on the western span of the Bay Bridge, but the same engineer who got those installed worked on the high-tech, permanent lighting system on the new eastern span, which features 48,000 individual LEDs. It turns out that the many delays that caused the bridge to be at least a decade late allowed the lighting design to take advantage of the latest in lighting technology, most of which didn't exist just a few years ago.

Saeed Shahmirzai, who worked as lead engineer on the Bay Lights, also served as engineer for the project of lighting the new span.

As the Contra Costa Times reports, the lighting for the new span was designed and executed by Iowa-based Musco Lighting, who also lit the new Yankee Stadium and the White House. It features a soft white bath of light over the wide bridge decks that's way easier on the eyes than the harsh, orange glare of the lighting on the cantilever span, and the existing western span. All the LEDs and the 1,521 fixtures holding them were pre-aimed by Musco using lighting design software, and unlike traditional sodium vapor bulbs, they need replacing every 10 to 15 years, instead of every 2 years.

Also, those cool light poles that line the entire approach to the suspension part of the span, with the half-spirals of angled lights, have movable fixtures controlled by antenna — therefore a guy on a laptop could remotely move each of them if necessary. (Here's hoping this doesn't become a hacking target.)

See more in the video below.

[CC Times]