The Bay Lights

The installation by light artist Leo Villareal included 25,000 individual white LEDs along 1.8 miles (2.9 km) of the cables on the north side of the suspension span of the bridge between Yerba Buena Island and San Francisco.

Initially intended as a temporary installation, which ended on March 5, 2015, the project was re-installed as a longstanding feature of the Bay Bridge with permanent fixtures that were re-lit on January 30, 2016.

The Bay Lights was conceived in September 2010 by Ben Davis of Words Pictures Ideas, a public relations company contracted by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to publicize the construction of the new eastern span replacement of the Bay Bridge between Yerba Buena Island and Oakland.

[2] Davis contacted light artist Leo Villareal, who had an exhibition on display at the San Jose Museum of Art in late 2010.

Both Davis and Villareal suggest The Bay Lights was influenced by their experiences at the annual Burning Man art and music festival in northwestern Nevada.

Caltrans workers intermittently closed a lane of traffic on the bridge late at night so electricians could install the individual LEDs to the cables.

[3][6] The lights were programmed to create a series of abstract patterns that ascend and descend the cables and appear to cross the bridge.

[3] Each LED bulb could be adjusted for 255 different levels of brightness and the entire installation was controlled remotely by a computer program operated by Villareal.

[22] In July 2014, Illuminate the Arts announced it was partnering with Tilt.com to sponsor a $1.2 million crowdfunding campaign to keep The Bay Lights lit until 2026.