Bay Bridge Lighting Ceremony

On January 30, the Bay Bridge, connecting San Francisco with the East Bay, via Treasure Island, was re-lit in a ceremony which include a dramatic fireworks display.

The light sculpture by artist Leo Villareal was installed and stayed lit from March 2013 to 2015.  It was so well received that a fund raising drive was instigated to make it an enduring display.  With cooperation from the State of California which operates the bridge, the art display is now permanent. Jan 30 marked the re-lighting.   LED lights stung along each cable ripple with light in a variety of patterns.   These are not seen by drivers heading across the bridge but are visible from along the Embarcadero.

To sense the pattern, click on the first photo and rapidly click through the four bridge photos and you will see bright and dark spots move across the spans.   The bright yellowish lights below the bridge are from the Oakland port.

Once the bridge was lit, the fireworks began from two barges not far from the bridge.  

The removal of the Embarcadero freeway, a double-decker monstrosity that blocked views of the waterfront and made for a dingy area below, was badly damaged in the Loma Prieta Earthquake in 1989.   The City fought efforts to rebuild it, re-routing traffic.   The result is an open esplanade along the waterfront, great views of the Ferry Building ( the tower with the clock in the view below) art work, fishing piers, and an outdoor recreation area for the city.   We watched the fireworks from the esplanade

Fun light sculpture near the ferry building with the Bay Bridge in the background.  In this photo, the standard lights on the bridge are all that show...the special lights were turned on about an hour later.

This interesting little brightly lit capsule came skimming by us.  The lights change color and rotate as it moves. But the Coast Guard was not happy with its presence within the fireworks area and quickly moved in to ask the operator, whose head we could see in the clear bubble at the top, to move away which he did

Same capsule, but now the lights are blue.