After eight years of illuminating the night along the Arkansas River, the fading lights across the Big Dam Bridge are soon to be replaced.
They aren't as bright as they used to be, particularly in comparison with the lights display on the nearby Two Rivers Park bridge, said John Burton, surveyor with the Pulaski County Road and Bridge Department. Burton said he would likely be the construction manager for the replacement project.
"Their illumination period has expired," he said.
Additionally, LED technology has advanced to the point that individual lights and parts can no longer be replaced if they stop working, County Judge Buddy Villines said.
"In 2006, when they were installing, they were the cutting-edge technology," Villines said of the current LED lights.
He said the new lights will cost $400,000 to $500,000 to buy and install.
In 2006, the lights cost $800,000 to buy and install with help from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. But much of the wiring and conduits that had to be built the first time won't need to be built again, Villines said.
The county has met with two potential contractors for the lighting project and held a mandatory preproposal meeting at the Big Dam Bridge on Thursday morning, but the bidding process for the project doesn't end until Sept. 9. A contract would be awarded shortly after that, and Villines hopes the new lights can be in place by the end of the year or early next year.
The county is looking for a contractor to replace the lights and 16 security cameras along the bridge, according to its request for a proposal. The lighting scheme would not change, with the same colors and pattern remaining in place.
About 200 individual lights are on the bridge now.
"We've come a long way with LED lighting since then," Burton said of the original lights.
Villines said the lights were expected to last about 10 years when they were installed. They didn't last quite that long, he said, probably because of storms and lightning strikes. But he expects 10 years or more out of the new ones.
In November, Burton and other road and bridge officials oversaw the second replacement of the Two Rivers Park bridge lights -- the $600,000 original lights and their first replacement lights consistently malfunctioned during the first two years of the lighting scheme.
The county did not pay the cost of the first or second replacements because of the malfunction. Instead, the lighting contractor covered the costs.
That won't happen with the Big Dam Bridge project, Burton said, because the lights have faded merely from nearing the end of their life cycle.
Villines said the county has enough money in its general and road and bridge maintenance budgets to pay for the project without seeking outside funding.
"I'm trying to raise enough money for America's Bridge," he said, referring to another project involving lighting and a potential walkway across the Broadway Bridge, stretching between downtown Little Rock and North Little Rock.
Metro on 09/01/2014