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At first glance, nothing about the design of the new Bridge Street Bridge, in Sumner, Washington, looks extraordinary. Only upon closer inspection, however, people may notice the intricacies that took nearly a decade to incorporate and bring to reality.

鈥淚t looks like a fairly simple bridge,鈥� said Eric Shimizu, a principal with DKS Associates. 鈥淚t was very important to have decorative lighting. We came up with an idea that tied the bridge to the community.鈥�

The $17 million, 300-foot-long structure will have programmable LEDs in the catenary and street fixtures. Also, sconce lighting fixtures will be embedded in the handrails, and a wireless sound system will be installed.

鈥淭he light on the roadway can be programmed to be red, white and blue for Fourth of July,鈥� Shimizu said. 鈥淚t can be turned green and red for Christmas or blue and green for the (Seattle) Seahawks.鈥�

Designers hope that such measures will help the new structure retain some of the historic charm of its predecessor. The city of Sumner was forced to demolish the previous, 90-year-old Bridge Street Bridge after it was deemed functionally obsolete. It had received a 7 rating on a 100-point sufficiency scale.

The former bridge employed a steel truss that made a perfect place for wrapping Christmas lights and holding holiday gatherings. Its functionality, however, waned over the years. Officials even began to question whether the bridge could continue to hold upwards of 5,000 people during the yearly holiday celebration.

鈥淭hey were worried about the weight of having that many people on the bridge and were looking at having to keep people off,鈥� said Jackie Wells, promotions coordinator for the Old Cannery Furniture Warehouse 鈥� the celebration’s organizer. 鈥淚t’s not going to be the same. We are going to do something else. It’s neat that they were able to put in the colored lights that we can use for events.鈥�

The design process was complicated by the fact that the bridge crosses the White River. It’s a habitat for numerous species of fish, limiting not only the work window but also where light can shine. The Muckleshoot Reservation is located along the river, so it had a say in the bridge project.

鈥淭he Indian reservation was concerned the lighting hitting the water might change fish patterns,鈥� Shimizu said. 鈥淲hen you are looking at light on the waterways, you try to get a lot of color temperature to mimic the moonlight.鈥�

Those constraints forced designers to make sure lighting would aim down onto the roadway and not flood out into the water. Stringing lights, dimmer and more focused on the roadway, also will be used to mitigate light pollution.

鈥淭here are cables that go over the bridge and there are lights hanging from the wire,鈥� Shimizu said. 鈥淭hey are strategically placed to create more of starry appearance.鈥�

There were also issues involving funding and ownership of land in the right-of-way. However, construction eventually began in May, and is expected to finish in June 2019. Officials anticipate approximately 7,500 motorists and pedestrians to use the bridge each day.

鈥淚t was really fun,鈥� Shimizu said. 鈥淲e were able to come up with creative solutions to some unique problems.鈥�