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Q: Jacksonville is a city with seven bridges, and Jacksonville Today reader Dave E. thinks they should shine.
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There was a time when lights illuminated the Fuller Warren Bridge, he notes.
“The columns under the Fuller Warren Bridge (I-95) used to be lit up with uplighting,” he writes. “It was attractive and helped light up Downtown.”
“When will that feature return to our skyline?”
A: Probably not anytime soon, according to city and state officials.
“Aesthetic lighting on the bridges in Downtown Jacksonville, including the Fuller Warren Bridge, is maintained by the city of Jacksonville (the exception being the decorative lighting on the Acosta Bridge),” says Hampton Ray, spokesperson for the Florida Department of Transportation. “I am not aware of any plans for additional aesthetic lighting on the structure at this time.”
Mayor’s Office spokesperson Phil Perry says the lights on the columns supporting the Fuller Warren haven’t worked for at least 12 years. That’s because of Mother Nature, he says.
“Given that timeframe, there is some deterioration of the wiring and conduits that have been exposed to the elements,” Perry says. “We are working on a budget estimate for consideration in the Capital Improvement Plan but do not know the full extent of cost or timing right now.”
Other bridges do have lighting. Blue lights illuminate the Main Street bridge, and the suspension cables on the Dames Point bridge are lighted in white. Decorative lighting was installed years ago on the Hart Bridge, and about 75% of it is working, Perry says. There is no decorative lighting on the Mathews Bridge.
Perry says Mayor Donna Deegan and others in City Hall “certainly share the desire for an attractive Downtown.” So other projects underway will change the Jacksonville skyline, he says.
Those include the Museum of Science & History’s move to a larger site on the Northbank and a planned city park in the Shipyards district. Plans also include completion of a riverfront park system that includes Riverfront Plaza, a redesigned Metropolitan Park and the St. Johns River Park proposed next to Friendship Fountain.
Perry also points to the almost $2 billion renovation of EverBank Stadium, the Emerald Trail through Riverside, LaVilla and other parts of the city, and mixed-use developments “that will bring people to live and work.”