Main Street Bridge

[rav4guy]

Has anyone else noticed the lackluster work TTV Architects did on the Main Street Bridge "upgrade"? Looking at the bridge from the Northbank (which I imagine is the vantage point of most of our city officials), you can't help but be distracted by the incredible amount of LED lights that are burnt out or otherwise malfunctioning in the tower displays. And it has been this way since the Super Bowl.

Some observations:

1.) The displays were INSTALLED with somewhere around 3% of the LEDs inoperable (this, however, was only obvious where the solid color fields were displaying). It has since risen to somewhere between 15-20% inoperable and has become glaringly obvious.

2.) It seems like the program being used to run the light display suffers from a lot of lag time. The displays will freeze, sometimes up to 3 minutes at a time. They will also run significantly slower or faster at times, as if the computer were rushing to keep up with commands. This all happens independently in the displays, conveying the sense that it is not part of the programming. Maybe an upgrade to Windows XP would fix the problem (or maybe they should've shelled out extra for a mac...).

3.) Oddly enough, this doesn't seem to be a problem on the Southbank side of the bridge facing San Marco and, for that matter, the millions of people passing through Jacksonville on the interstate...

4.) Most importantly (and most ironically), the broken side DIRECTLY FACES the new downtown offices of TTV Architects on Forsyth street. One would assume that if a project you designed were embarassing your reputation and you had to witness it ON A DAILY BASIS, something would be done to quickly remedy the situation.

I am writing this note as an open call for help. Someone please repair our Atari. I can no longer face my friends with the knowledge that, somewhere downtown, a small child may be losing faith in the intelligence of our government.

www.ttvarch.com

[merlin]

Just a note, they probably don;t have to witness it on a daily basis - the lights aren't on until most of them are probably out of there.

I do agree however, that someone needs to stay on top of the lighting, not just that bridge in particular either.

[Jaylon]

Someone please repair our Atari. I can no longer face my friends with the knowledge that, somewhere downtown, a small child may be losing faith in the intelligence of our government.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hilarious!

On another note... I've noticed that the hart bridge lights are turned off after midnight. Does anyone know if the same is done to the main street bridge? Is this to save on costs?

-J

[Viper]

I don't the specific time but yes, they are turned off as well for money conservation.

[merlin]

There is also a thing called "light pollution" and I think there is a local group that is concerned about that as well.

[Fruit Cove]

those hideous neon light changing leds need to be removed. theyre tacky. the bridge is beautiful in blue all lit up without them.

[cracklow]

those hideous neon light changing leds need to be removed. theyre tacky. the bridge is beautiful in blue all lit up without them.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

i quite agree. it makes it more tacky that they don't work, but only marginally so.

[TheUrbanCore]

1. Tri Vu proposed the Bridge Lighting (which in my opinion is a major enhancement of our skyline)

2. David Lafitte at RS&H designed it, not Tri or TTV

3. As far as I can tell the LED component came out of thin air:

http://www.photonics.com/todaysheadlines/X...62/QX/today.htm

stay informed UPers

[rav4guy]

1. Tri Vu proposed the Bridge Lighting (which in my opinion is a major enhancement of our skyline)

2. David Lafitte at RS&H designed it, not Tri or TTV

3. As far as I can tell the LED component came out of thin air:

http://www.photonics.com/todaysheadlines/X...62/QX/today.htm

stay informed UPers

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

So it looks like Stone Mountain Lighting Group and Miller Electric are ultimately to blame for the shoddy installation. Thanks for the note, Urban.

Interesting side note, the same company that produced our LEDs did the LEDs for CNN headquarters in Atlanta. They have a cool display there.