Bridging the gaps

How a landmark pedestrian bridge is leaving its lighting challenges behind.

The story

In 2014, a major city in Eastern Ontario completed construction on a new, long-awaited pedestrian bridge over one of its busiest parkways. The bridge offers a critical connection between two populous neighbourhoods, linking westside residents to a shopping centre, transit hub, cycling network and other amenities.

Bridging the gaps

How a landmark pedestrian bridge is leaving its lighting challenges behind.

The story

But it’s more than a bridge. As a tribute to the Canadian soldiers who fought on D-Day, the city renamed the structure on the invasion’s 75th anniversary. Today, it’s both a vital passageway and a reminder to keep the peace.

Unfortunately, the luminaires installed in the bridge’s handrails started failing early on. For years this has affected the bridge’s aesthetics, creating gaps and inconsistencies in lighting the path for pedestrians at night.

Initial inspections showed signs of water infiltration as a result of poor product specification, installation and enclosure choices. This has resulted in several piecemeal repairs and even full-warranty replacements – a laborious process with vendors and suppliers passing the blame. With materials outside their warranty, and resident complaints on the rise, the city was eager to fix the problem for good.

The city turned to Envari as their recognized lighting experts. Having completed a number of projects for the city, including pathway and building lighting, Envari was excited to take on the challenge and share its expertise.

Their shared mandate was to return the bridge to its originally intended design while enhancing the nighttime experience. The main challenges were to source a new LED system that could fit within the existing handrail, provide the required light levels and withstand the city’s often-extreme weather conditions.

To confirm fit and functionality, various products and mock-ups were examined and tested on the spot.

This required close collaboration between Envari’s engineering team and its contractors to ensure a fully coordinated and integrated approach.

After a thorough review and testing period, they aligned on a silicon LED system that’s energy efficient, suitable for extreme weather and fully integrated into the existing handrail. The LED system also includes a dimming feature that will allow for a constant light output over the life of the system without the need to over illuminate the nighttime environment. As well, they installed new moisture-rated drivers in the electrical boxes – another layer of defense against the elements.

graphic of a frame of a pedestrian bridge with light flares

For something as heavily trafficked as a pedestrian bridge, good lighting can’t be compromised; it’s critical to have the right engineers and designers on your team from the start; otherwise, you might find yourself crossing a bridge you won’t like when you get there.

With these enhancements, the city has found a way to address the gaps from the original design so that residents will finally be able to see the bridge for the brilliant memorial it is.