Esplanade Riel illuminated in colour thanks to new lighting system

July 29, 2022

Esplanade Riel is sporting a colourful new look after new, programmable LED lights were recently installed. The lights can illuminate the bridge in any colour imaginable and replace the original system installed when the bridge was built two decades ago.

“We noticed an increasing amount of repair work was needed on the old lights so we started to explore replacement options that were energy efficient and could reduce maintenance costs,” said Darren Burmey, Bridge Planning and Operations Engineer with the City of Winnipeg.

Each one of the 55 lights on Esplanade Riel can be digitally programmed to display a specific colour or a lighting sequence. It took a few nights for crews to fine tune the bulbs to ensure they were angled in a way that best illuminates the bridge’s tension cables, spire, and building.

The new lighting system on Esplanade Riel can be programmed to illuminate the bridge in any colour.

The new lighting system on Esplanade Riel can be programmed to illuminate the bridge in any colour.Photo credit: Field Service Canada

The new LED lights are also energy efficient and will reduce maintenance costs.

The new LED lights are brighter than the previous lights.

The new LED lights are brighter than the previous lights. Photo credit: Field Service Canada.

“Lighting bridges and other landmarks in different colours can be done in cities all over the world, so it is nice to be able to now light Esplanade Riel in the same way,” said Burmey, “Without this upgrade, it just wasn’t feasible to change the colour of the bridge lights in an easy to manage way.”

When not illuminated a specific colour, you might notice you can spot the bridge from further away at night. The new lights are brighter than the previous ones with the added ability to remotely set the brightness level.

“This was a fantastic project to work on,” said Burmey. “Esplanade Riel is a key part of Winnipeg’s skyline, so it is really nice to be able to enhance it in a way that can be enjoyed by everyone.”

We will be bringing forward a report to Council this fall with a proposed plan on how to best use these new lighting capabilities.

Until the formal lighting program is finalized by Council, we will be using the new coloured lighting capabilities to add colour to Esplanade Riel in short intervals every evening. The bridge will have a 10-minute light display occurring every hour, on the hour, from dusk until midnight.

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