When the new lights on the south side of the Ben Franklin Bridge will be lit
Longing for an answer, a Queen Village resident asked Curious Philly, The Inquirer’s forum for questions about the city and region.
A half-lit Ben Franklin Bridge was one of the first views to welcome Marion Blow, 70, to her new neighborhood.
“It’s very dark,” she recalled thinking while looking out the window.
It isn’t strange for a bridge to lack decorative lights. What caught Blow’s eye, however, was that the northern lights on this particular overpass are on, while the southern lights are off.
She found it so confounding that she asked a neighbor about the situation, only to learn that the 61,700-ton expanse had been like that for “a while.”
Longing for an answer, Blow asked Curious Philly, The Inquirer’s forum for questions about the city and region: When will the new lights on the south side of the Ben Franklin Bridge be lit?
When will the south-side lights return?
Blow’s theory is that, since the lights on the northern side came back on, the southern side lights will soon be lit.
She is not too far off.
The south side of the bridge is expected to be relit between October and December, according to John Hanson, the Delaware River Port Authority’s chief executive officer. That’s provided there are no supply chain issues or other things that may impact the schedule, Hanson said.
But, there is a bit more to lighting up the bridge.
Why are half of the Benjamin Franklin Bridge’s lights off?
Originally named the Delaware River Bridge, this suspension bridge opened in 1926. Sixty-one years later, the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce raised funds to install spotlights and reflectors across each of the bridge’s 256 vertical suspender cables.
By 2000, the DRPA had to perform an upgrade.
Colorful LED lights were introduced, but only on the deck. These are the lights that have adorned the bridge since, providing a chasing effect to PATCO trains and themed-light colors on special events.
Twenty-three years later, maintenance, lighting upgrades, and remodeling were a must.
Instead of splitting them into independent projects, the DRPA lumped everything into a $216.9 million rehabilitation project, according to Hanson.
Since the south side — which faces the Walt Whitman Bridge — was in better condition, Hanson said, the decision was made to first focus on the north side.
After seven months of electrical work, steel repairs, painting, widening work, and rail updates, the north side was energized in April 2023. The south side was immediately turned off.
Why replace the bridge lights?
Replacing the lights will account for about $8 million of the rehabilitation project budget, a worthwhile modernization investment, the DRPA says.
“Our engineers were taking lightbulbs from the north side to balance the south-side repairs because parts were no longer available [on the market],” said spokesperson Mike Williams.
In addition, despite having LED lights, the system installed around 2000 was not energy-efficient and could produce only primary colors, limiting what could be done.
“With the new system, we could make the bridge Eagles green, even kelly green, whereas now we can only do a dark green,” Williams added.
What to expect from the new light system
According to Hanson, the system change will provide beautiful light scenarios on the bridge.
From a new centralized system that is meant to facilitate both the control and maintenance of the equipment, to 84 new fixtures in two towers — one on the Philadelphia side of the bridge, the other on the Camden side — and new decorative lights on the PATCO tracks, Philadelphians can prepare for a more modern lighting system.
However, he urges people to keep in mind that “when you look at the bridge it’s not a screen. It’s still a steel structure that is painted Ben Franklin Bridge blue.”