Portland, Oregon's long-awaited Tilikum Crossing, Bridge of the People lighting ceremony took place Sept. 10. Pedestrians, cyclists and mass transit use on the bridge kicked off Sept. 12. Private cars and trucks cannot use the bridge. The lighting design by Reyes Engineering of Portland alters the bridge's lighting effects based on the Willamette River's speed, depth and water temperature. ETC's Ion RPU controls, paired with their 178 Selador???(R)???AE???? Desire D40 XTIs luminaires (array of 4 pictured), a series of DMX opto-isolation repeaters in outdoor enclosures and over 15,000 feet of data cable comprise the lighting package.
Photo: TriMet

The first new bridge in the Portland, Oregon area in 40 years"?uTilikum Crossing, Bridge of the People"?uspans the Willamette River. The cable-stayed bridge opened September 12, 2015.

The "Tilikum" name means "people" in the Chinook language. The Chinook Indians made, and continue to make, their home along the Columbia River in what today is Oregon and Washington. The Willamette River is a major tributary of the Columbia River.

Portland's metro transit authority (TriMet) designed the bridge for the city's MAX Orange Line light rail. The bridge also serves city buses, streetcars, bicycles, pedestrians and emergency vehicles. Private cars and trucks are not allowed.

The 1,720-foot-long bridge has two distinctive 180-foot-tall pentagonal shaped stay-cable towers. The 780-foot-long main span deck is separated into a 31-foot-wide transit way between the tower legs to accommodate two lanes of track and two flanking multiuse paths for pedestrians and cyclists.

The bridge integrates dynamic architecture but also compelling displays of light art to accentuate the Portland skyline, keeping the tall structure visible and changing throughout the night.

The lighting design by Reyes Engineering of Portland alters the bridge's lighting effects based on the Willamette's speed, depth and water temperature. This environmental data is collected by U.S. Geological Survey equipment and translated by software designed by programmer Morgan Barnard. That software triggers a series of commands to an ETC ((Electronic Theatre Controls) Ion???(R)???AE???? remote processor unit that executes a series of cues programmed for each of those changing conditions.

The late San Francisco artist Anna Valentina Murch and her husband, Doug Hollis, were commissioned to compose the lighting effects. Murch's design called for an aesthetic lighting scheme that would change with the behaviors of the Willamette. Murch passed away prior to completion of the project; Hollis saw her vision through to the end.

Water temperature determines the base color; river speed affects the timing of color changes and intensity shifts that "move" the light across the bridge. River depth is conveyed by a secondary color pattern that transitions on the crossing's two towers and array of suspension cables. ETC's Ion RPU controls, paired with their 178 Selador???(R)???AE???? Desire D40 XTIs luminaires, a series of DMX opto-isolation repeaters in outdoor enclosures and over 15,000 feet of data cable. As bridge workers were not authorized to work at night, the D40s were focused during the day by mounting a riflescope to each fixture and aiming the lights at specific points on the structure.

Bridge Team
TriMet: Portland's metro transit authority
T.Y. Lin International – engineer of record
MacDonald Architects
HNTB Corp. - engineering of the TriMet design
Kiewit – primary contractor
Reyes Engineering – lighting design
ETC (Electronic Theatre Controls) –control gear, system engineering and lighting package
Visual Noise Creative
Hollywood Lighting