Viaducto de la Novena, also known as Viaducto Provincial, is a cable-stayed bridge located in Bucaramanga, Colombia. The bridge stretches 550 m (1,804 ft) long and stands 130 m (427 ft) high, making it the longest urban bridge in South America and the tallest in Colombia. After overcoming underfunding issues and over four years of construction delays, the six-lane bridge was opened for traffic by the Bucaramanga Mayor Luis Francisco Bohorquez, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, Luis Fernando Arboleda, President of Findeter, a financial institution for development, and over 5,000 guests. To celebrate the long-anticipated opening, the mayor and the city's public lighting office decided the bridge needed lighting that would enhance the beauty and prominence of the Colombian landmark.
In addition to giving the bridge a new and pleasing esthetic, another goal of the lighting project was to display government messages about special events, government issues, traffic reports, and more to automobile traffic crossing below the lights.
LED lighting was chosen for ease of control over the luminaires, as well as to reduce energy consumption. Lighting Designer Elias Cisneros from 333 Luxes and engineering firm EME Ingenieria chose Color Kinetics luminaires for their outstanding control capabilities and simple and neat infrastructure to power the technology. Vaya Linear luminaires were used on the surface of bridge tensors and to display government messages, ColorReach Powercore gen2 luminaires (now specified with
ReachElite) were used to floodlight the columns above and below the road, and iColor Accent MX Powercore luminaires were installed end-to-end extending to the top of the columns to highlight architectural detail.
Viaducto Provincial is now vibrantly illuminated with over 7,800 LED lights. The iconic bridge has become a massive landmark in the city, and stands at the forefront of modern lighting technology. "The Viaducto Provincial is a luminous icon for its architectural and visual beauty that welcomes visitors from all over the world," said Gloria Duran, city public lighting office director. "Color Kinetics was chosen based on their expertise, experience, and their high-quality LED fixtures, which exceeded all goals and expectations for the project."
