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Anthony Wayne Bridge re-lit and sparkling brighter than ever

It's a $900,000 sparkling face-lift paid for with private donations raised by longtime local arts advocate Susan Reams.

TOLEDO, Ohio — It's the latest piece of artwork on a canvas known as the downtown Toledo skyline.

The Anthony Wayne Bridge has been re-lit and shining brighter than ever before.

Hundreds of new LED lights line the decks and cables of the 1931 bridge that carries traffic over the Maumee River.

It's a $900,000 sparkling face-lift paid for with private donations raised by longtime local arts advocate Susan Reams.

"When they realize you have a shared vision and you have people involved to make a project happen corporations are very interested," she said.

Toledo pitched in too.

A donation came from the city's ongoing forty year old public arts program funded by one percent of all income tax collections.

Keep in mind this bridge is now considered a work of art.

"There's a lot of things the city of Toledo has accomplished but it's not a bad thing to celebrate the arts because that's what gives Toledo it's soul," according to Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz.

The donors were recognized at a party Friday night before the bridge lighting.

Erwin Redl was at the lighting too.

He's the lighting artist of the bridge and said each of the hundreds of LED lights can change to four different colors so their able to reflect an event, day in history or change in season.

It's also a positive cosmopolitan image for a business locating here since, as they say, you don't have a second chance to create a first impression.

"It's an active city. There are people downtown who go out at night. It's not a dead downtown any more," added Redl.

Just a bridge but it definitely is putting Toledo in a good light.

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