San Francisco’s Bay Bridge puts on a show with light display

A new light installation at the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge is lighting up the California coastline.

On Tuesday night, a 1.8-mile (about 2.9 km) stretch of the bridge was brought to life with 25,000 LED lights. But this isn't your run-of-the-mill, flick-a-switch-and-voila kind of light display. As Ars Technica explains, each individual light is controlled over an Ethernet connection, with a constant stream of about 32Mbps of data flowing across the network to control the display.

The project is the creation of artist Leo Villareal, who has done numerous light installation projects across the U.S. and overseas. At the launch event for the display, Villareal controlled the light show through his laptop, but for the two-year duration of the project, the lights will be controlled automatically by Villareal's custom-built software. The light show will take place every night between 9 p.m. and 2 a.m.

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While not nearly as famous as San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, Day News reports that locals are hoping the $8.8 million project will make the Bay Bridge its own attraction, and help draw tourists to the city.

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