Saturday, July 31, 2010

The tunnel of light, usually known as the Hawthorne Bridge, downtown Portland

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Part of the PDX Bridge Festival involves highlight the birthday bridge, the Hawthorne which turns 100 this year.

Here's a bit about the lights on the bridge, from the PDX Bridge Festival Web site:
FABRIC AND LIGHT

The centerpiece of this years festival is the Hawthorne Bridge, which celebrates its hundredth anniversary in 2010. In honor of the centennial of the nation’s oldest working vertical lift bridge, we’ve designed an installation that will transform this bridge into a large-scale work of kinetic art. The lighting display makes use of programmable and environmentally aware lighting technology to interact with the nightly vehicle and bike traffic on the bridge. The lights accentuate 48 panels of colored fabric installed in three spans of the bridge trusses, turning the structure into a wash of color and moving light, and marking the rhythm of commuter traffic as it moves across the bridge. The installation will be visible for the 15 days of the festival and can be viewed from neighboring bridges, both esplanades of the Willamette River and downtown buildings.

I got to take this photo Thursday night through the windshield of the Zipcar Artale, a Scion xA. After making sure that no one was behind me a we headed west across the Willamette River, I stopped on the bridge and took four photos. Oh, joy!

Come back tomorrow for some that I took from the Eastbank Esplanade. They will be my City Daily Photo Theme Day pictures!

To see the latest on our vacation and my trip to Talladega Superspeedway, be sure to check out Mama and Me from PDX. The truck race is on!

13 comments:

Clytie said...

I saw this on the news! They didn't have the same perspective, though, and I am in awe! This is GORGEOUS!!!

Jack said...

If this isn't your Bright Colors Theme Day posting, I can hardly wait for tomorrow!

Eki said...

The colorful light on the steel frames makes the bridge even look more beautiful!

Thanks for viting and commenting on my blog Lynette.

Bill said...

Wow Lynette, that sure is a colourful bridge, well suited for today, 1st August Theme Day.

Thanks for stopping by my blog.

Jim said...

Awesome colours on the bridge. Thanks for visiting my blog and thanks for your comment.

VP said...

A spectacular choice for this Theme Day and not an easy shot to take...

Bergson said...

a fantastic tunnel
a good choice

Lowell said...

Splashes of color funneling through the night. Excellent!

cieldequimper said...

Hi there! Portland I will have to visit one day, I usually come off I84 and drive straight up to Seattle.

These are marvellous shots, what a wonderful way to light up the bridge and people's nightlives!

You could even link them to Sunday Bridge Series!

Unknown said...

the lights are magical! such enchanting photos.

Jim Klenke said...

This is a great view.

EG CameraGirl said...

WOW! Portland sure is spectacular at night!

Amy said...

Wow, you captured a great angle. Those colors are lovely... I really need to visit Portland one day!