FDOT taps the brakes on Murray Hill’s artistic lighting display

By Michele Leivas

Light at the end of the tunnel?

The light at the end of the tunnel may be a bit further away for Murray Hill residents eager to see the artistic LED light display at the underpass at Edgewood Avenue South and Roosevelt Boulevard.

Illumination of the light display has been temporarily delayed since the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) expressed concerns regarding the use of traffic signal colors – red, yellow and green – in the lighting’s rotation.

FDOT Community Outreach Manager Hampton Ray explained that the artistic lighting features were included as a secondary element in its Edgewood Avenue South improvements, with safety being the primary focus of the project. To that end, he said, FDOT has requested that signal colors be removed from the artistic color scheme, given the overpass’s proximity to existing traffic signals and the railroad crossing.

“FDOT’s goal is to ensure all lighting schemes are safe, predictable and meet required safety standards for all roadway users, including drivers, pedestrians, and bicyclists…” Ray said. “FDOT is committed to working with community partners to meet safety standards and address aesthetic considerations.”

Murray Hill Preservation Association Board Member James Coggin, who has been involved in the lighting project for several years, expressed disappointment with the color restrictions.

“We’re not rewriting what’s possible,” said Coggin, who served on the Cultural Council panel that selected artist Bill FitzGibbons to create the lighting display. “This has been done elsewhere, and as a panelist, I’m a little disappointed to see the full vision not be realized.”

In 2007, FitzGibbons created “Light Channels,” an installation in a San Antonio, Texas underpass that is in close proximity to at least one traffic signal. That display was completed in collaboration with the City of San Antonio, the Texas Department of Transportation and the county government.

The Murray Hill lighting installation is part of FDOT’s Edgewood Avenue South road improvements that are being implemented from Roosevelt Boulevard to Cassat Avenue, which also include the new traffic circle at Edgewood Avenue South.

Creating Destinations

A collaboration between the City of Jacksonville, the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville and FDOT, the artistic lighting display is intended to beautify the concrete underbelly of the U.S. 17 overpass. District 7 City Councilmember Jimmy Peluso said once completed, the display will help create a destination within the Murray Hill community.

“If you look at great cities, especially those that have artists in their community that want to see and do more, they take those ugly, crude-looking pieces of concrete and they make them awesome,” Peluso said. “They make them places where people want to go and take pictures and think that it’s cool and that’s really what it’s about.”

Peluso said he anticipates the lighting project to be completed by the end of the year.