New lights installed along Ringling Bridge

For one of Sarasota’s most noteworthy sights, visibility has been an issue in recent months.

In 2011, the city teamed with Siemens Building Technologies to retrofit the 98 streetlights on the John Ringling Causeway Bridge with energy-efficient LED lights. Just three years later, many of those lights were failing — and the city was receiving complaints as a result.

About one-third of the lights, provided by local lighting firm Evolucia, went dark, according to city staff. City Public Works Director Doug Jeffcoat said mechanical issues specific to the Evolucia product were causing the light fixtures to fail. That issue was further compounded by the financial struggles of Evolucia, prolonging the outages along the bridge.

As of last week, however, Siemens has addressed the problem, Jeffcoat said. On Wednesday and Thursday nights, the company replaced all 98 LED light fixtures along the bridge. The project came at no cost to the city.

“Siemens has really stepped up in regards to taking care of the issue we were having,” Jeffcoat said. “That’s a tough thing to deal with, but Siemens stepped up and replaced the lights.”

Contact David Conway at [email protected].