August 3, 2021

New York Spends $37M on Color Kinetics, Then Cancels Project

Above: A 2017 video that was part of Governor Andrew Cuomo's New York Crossings Project announcement

City-wide bridge lighting project was met with resistance, paused and eventually scrapped.

If you've ever driven on the BQE between Brooklyn and Queens, you may already know that the Kosciuszko Bridge is a rather ordinary and unspectacular structure. That changed in May 2017 when the bridge’s newly installed color changing LED lights were used as part of a pilot demonstration for the "Harbor of Lights" project that would cause a new lighting installation on several New York bridges and river crossings to be synchronized and choreographed in what was promised to be a spectacular light show.

Shortly after Harbor of Lights was announced in 2017, the project was met with resistance relating to the associated costs and perceived importance. The state paused the Harbor of Lights project later in 2017. According to a report by Politico, newly released documents show that New York taxpayers invested about $37 million for LED light fixtures that have now been sitting in a warehouse for four years, with no immediate practical use in mind after the project appeared to be left for dead.

Our source close to the project confirmed that the light fixtures purchased for the projects were made by Color Kinetics -- the same maker of the dynamic lights that illuminate the iconic Empire State Building in Midtown. In recent years, Color Kinetics also provided the lighting for the Tappan Zee Bridge, officially named the Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge. According to the report, the total costs for the lights, design and construction work done before the project was paused total $106 million. New York has reportedly paid $770,000 to store the Color Kinetics fixtures.

The Color Kinetics fixtures and controls, represented locally by Electric Lighting Agencies (ELA), were going to be installed on all seven bridges and tunnels operated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which New York State controls. The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge is North America's longest bridge and would likely have been one of the most visible and eye-popping parts of the project. The complete list of crossings included:

Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge
Henry Hudson Bridge
Hugh L. Carey Brooklyn Battery Tunnel
Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge
Queens Midtown Tunnel
RFK Triborough Bridge
Throgs Neck Bridge
Verrazano-Narrows Bridge
Whitestone Bridge

The George Washington Bridge and other Hudson River crossings are operated by the Port Authority of NY & NJ and were not part of the New York-funded Harbor of Lights project.