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‘Lights Out’ for West Memphis Gateway

‘Lights Out’ for West Memphis Gateway

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‘Lights Out’ for West Memphis Gateway

Technical difficulties lead city to pull the plug on displays

news@theeveningtimes.com

The idea of a having remarkable city gate goes back way back into ancient history. Nowadays gateways include digital sign boards welcoming visitors, tree lined boulevards freshened twice yearly with seasonal annual flowers or maybe even a unique sculpture. West Memphis had hoped for a grand entrance when it unveiled LED lights and complementing landscaping during a two phase project at the east, west and north entrances to the triangle shaped city in 2009. But the Gateway light project aimed at creating a beautiful sense of place has gone dark.

Originally, the undersides of Interstate bridges were lit at Ingram Boulevard, College Boulevard and Missouri street. The lighting proved to be too intense on the east end and west end, and the plug had to pulled early on. Last month the original phase at Missouri Street underpass was shut down due to technical difficulties and the untenable specter of spending taxpayer money to diagnose and fix the problems.

“There really is no one that wants to get it fixed right now,” said West Memphis City Planning Director Paul Luker before a city council meeting last month.

The whole project was the product of leading edge design that turned out to be a technological boondoggle.

In fact no one can really pinpoint what is wrong right now.

The lights had been on again, off again with problems. A special paint was redone at Missouri St. to maximize and reflect the glowing lights but the residue and runoff from the road above created an unanticipated streaking problem.

The nine large LED lights with a two foot by three foot panel originally cost the city $330,000 in the first phase of the project at Missouri Street. A grant from National Scenic Byways formed the basis for project funding. The six figure budget covered costs including cleaning and painting the bridge, tearing out some old trees and redesigning the landscape with new trees and gardens. Twenty percent of the funding came from the Advertising and Promotion Commission after the concept hatched from the Chamber of Commerce in 2005 according to the Commercial Appeal. High hopes expressed then have apparently now been dashed.

“The lighting project will change the entrance to our city,” said Mayor Bill Johnson in December 2009. “I am hoping to change some people’s opinions when they come into town and leave the Interstate.”

The initial idea was simply to bathe the underside of the bridge with blue paint to symbolize the Mississippi River water and the Wonder City’s tap root in the Blues music genre. But the cost to refresh paint every few years turned project planers onto the emerging school LED light artists. The nightly cost to caste the city entrance in new light was originally projected at two dollars per day.

Coming out of design, the project ended up having a whole spectrum of color with nearly 17 million possible combinations and the goal of anchoring the Great River Road Scenic Byway along Highway 77 with an evening attraction for tourists.

“It creates conversation,” said Luker in 2009. “As you watch the lights move through the structure, it highlights elements of the bridge.”

While the lights may have dimmed, the effort did lead to some creative synergy, as city entities rebranded themselves with gatewayinspired logos and signage. A city water tower, Main Street West Memphis banners, the Office of Tourism and Delta Cuisine adopted the “gateway” imagery, giving West Memphis a clearer, more streamlined identity.

But the lights blew out in the Home of the Blues.

By John Rech

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