Lights On Tampa: Agua Luces, an initiative, led by Mayor Buckhorn, Tampa Electric and Peoples Gas, and the Lights On Tampa Committee, will permanently light four landmark bridges with low energy LED lighting. The final result will be impactful and provide a signature vista for the City of Tampa by August of 2012. The four bridges are: Platt Street Bridge, Brorein Street Bridge, Kennedy Boulevard Bridge, and the CSX Railroad Bridge.  It is presently planned that the lighting may be programmable, with a standard default plan that is saturated in tone.

Tampa Electric Company is the lead sponsor of the Agua Luces project.  The installation will start in early summer 2012 and completion of the four bridges is expected midsummer.

The City of Tampa hopes that with continued private sector support Agua Luces will be extended to the remaining bridges in downtown by 2014.  Lighting all eight bridges, as well as the Lee Roy Selmon Crosstown Expressway which intersects with the Tampa Riverwalk, is a fundamental vision for the City of Tampa.  Complementing the bridge lighting initiative will be additional cultural programming that includes Lights On Tampa installations, public and performance art and educational opportunities along the Riverwalk.

Chicago-based lighting artist Tracey Dear, who lit the bridges in Chicago as well as the Wrigley Building, was chosen for the installation.  The Public Art Program and the Lights On Tampa Committee selected Tracey Dear through a juried process for Lights On Tampa 2006 but the project was not realized.

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Lights On Tampa is a public/private partnership between the City of Tampa’s Art Programs Division and the Public Art Alliance, a 501(c)3 organization. The Program began in 2006 with the desire to bring something bold, of high quality and “on the moment” to Tampa. The objective was to literally put the spotlight on Tampa and its regional assets. The Program returned in 2009 when Tampa hosted the NFL’s Super Bowl XLIII. In 2010, the Program was recognized as one of the 50 most significant art programs in the U.S. in the last 50 years (Americans for the Arts).