Lighting up the past, in LED

Chris Northover PHOTO/FILE

Well, I've got a guilty secret.

Not anything that is likely to get me hauled before the courts -- or even banned from the pubs. No, it's more prosaic than that.

You see, I have realised that I like the blue lights around the boardwalk and at the entrance to town. There you are, I've said it.

But I think that I am one of a vast silent majority -- most people actually like these lighting features.

There could be a few whose dislike of the lights is a hangover of disapproval for a previous mayor: they were installed during his administration and, therefore, must be bad. But I believe that beautiful things don't have to be portrayed in oils, acrylics or glazes -- electronic artwork can be just as attractive.

Truth is, I'm not sure whether it is my fond remembrance of the fairy lights in the Londontown Santa's cave or my teenage years and the nice electric blue dashlights in the 1969 Holden Premier. I just like those electric blue lights.

By now you are wondering where this is going; it is about our beautiful bridges, all four of them. Someone is suggesting that we paint our bridges bright colours. The idea is a good one insofar as it would certainly make a needed point of difference for our city. The steelwork on the top two bridges, Dublin St and Aramoho Rail Bridge, is a credit to the engineers of the day and is worthy of showcasing. Nicely painted they would add to the historical feel of the place and enhance our beautiful river. But here is where I part company with that idea -- Yellow? Pink? Green? Red? Or blue? Mightn't they look a little bit tacky after a while?

I believe that the engineers have chosen dull colours for the present paint jobs so that the bridges will still look their best even when they get dirty or the paint fades, there is quite a science in this developed over the hundreds of years that we have been building bridges.

What do other people do? Can you image the Parisians painting the bridges over the Seine such bright colours? What they actually do is to light the bridges at night so that they reflect on the waters of the river and look fantastic. Classy. London and most other European cities are the same.

With modern low-voltage LED lighting the job could be done quite cheaply and cost far less in electricity. Perhaps the whole job might be cheaper than paint. Floodlights from the shore or fixed to two metre brackets off the walkways would cast a pleasant light off both bridges -- as well as the Town and Cobham bridges for that matter. Also, floodlights could be fixed to the structures themselves in such a way as to highlight the angles and shapes. The reflections would be calm but alluring.

But here my boyish love of Santa's cave and dashboard lights emerges -- why don't we continue the theme from around the walkway and fit vertical electric blue light strips the same as the riverbank walkway and southern entrance to town? We would need to fit about six or seven lights on the sides of each of the top two bridges, and one strip per lighting pole on each of the Town and Cobham bridges. I believe that the reflections would be beautiful to behold and "tie in" with the lights on both sides of the river.

Whether we go with the more modern look of electric blue or the more traditional warm white of the European cities, the reflected glory of those bridges would enhance our city.

Chris Northover is a Wanganui-based former corporate lawyer who has worked in the fields of aviation, tourism, health and the environment.