A case against the lights

The Sunshine Skyway is one of the state’s most iconic bridges. To many, it is the symbol of Tampa Bay. But did it really need $15 million lights?

The bridge recently debuted shimmering LED lights on its underside and along its edges, beaming bright pink, yellow and blue along the water. While the sight is quite beautiful, it certainly begs the question of whether the money required each day to cross the Skyway should be going toward aesthetic lighting or something that actually gives back more tangibly to the public.

The Florida Department of Transportation says the lights provide better safety and security on the underside of the bridge, where boats pass through. But the “primary purpose” the FDOT chose to bedeck the Skyway with lights is to, essentially, keep up with the Joneses, because, as they say, “all other major bridges are lit and when new bridges are built, lighting is included with them.”

Let’s be fair. In 2012, the city of Tampa embarked on an ambitious project to light up five bridges in the area’s downtown. They are stunning, but they also came out to a total of roughly $300,000 and were funded by TECO Energy, according to Tampa Tribune reports from the time. Compare that with the $15 million design and installation cost to light the 1.7-mile span of the Skyway bridge.

Sure, for the FDOT, $15 million is a mere drop in the bucket out of the $1 billion in toll revenue they made in 2017 through their Florida Turnpike Enterprise division, according to WTSP Channel 10. For us drivers, it’s money that counts. To put it in perspective, you’d have to drive the Sunshine Skyway 10 million times before spending that kind of money. That’s a long time for some pretty lights.

-Elizabeth Djinis, editorial writer

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A case for the lights

One morning 40 years ago, as a young reporter, I watched in disbelief as storm clouds lifted to reveal a quarter-mile gap in the Sunshine Skyway, and a stretch of that old Erector Set bridge lying across the ship that had crashed into it.

In its place, we built a safer, stronger and beautiful new Skyway that stretches across the gateway to Tampa Bay. As a little girl, my daughter loved crossing “the yellow pole bridge,” with the brightly painted cables holding the pavement high above the sea.

Some people argued that the state could have replaced the old bridge for less money, and maybe they were correct. But three decades after it opened, the “new” Skyway remains an aesthetic triumph, as graceful as it is functional, the iconic symbol of our region.

Now the state is spending $15 million from toll money to bathe our Skyway in bright colors at night. And yes, I suppose that money could go for something else. You need not look far for plenty of pressing public needs.

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It is hard to put a price on art, so each taxpayer is left to judge the value. For my money, a couple pennies from every Skyway toll is well worth the cost of making the “yellow pole bridge” as colorful at night as it is by day. When it comes to public projects, we have spent a lot more on a lot less.

-Paul Tash, Times chairman and CEO