Pingtan Strait Road-rail Bridge

Stretching 16.3 km (10 mi) long, with a six-lane highway and a high-speed railway, Pingtan Strait Road-rail Bridge is China's first, and the world's longest, cross-sea road-rail bridge. This engineering marvel provides rail access to Pingtan Island and a shorter commute between Pingtan Island and surrounding cities, forming a half-hour ‘living circle’ and ‘economic circle’ with Fuzhou to drive the overall development of northeast Fujian region.

Pingtan Strait is among the top three windiest seas in the world. Its complex environment features high waves, deep water, and fast currents. As such, the technical challenges and risks of construction and installation are unprecedented for bridges in China. Since lighting is an important part of the bridge construction, the project required high-quality LED lighting products that could withstand the extreme conditions, while providing stunning illumination to represent the strength of China.

Signify was selected for the project based on its reputation for delivering unrivalled professional LED lighting solutions, extensive experience in China, and strong relationship with the Bridge Reconnaissance & Design Institute (BRDI), an industry leader in the construction of long-span suspension bridges, road-rail bridges, and sea-crossing bridges. Signify developed a comprehensive lighting design that combines the principles of aesthetic and architectural lighting, while accounting for energy efficiency, safety, and connectivity.

The comprehensive lighting plan comprises the contour of the bridge, two road and rail bridge levels, three main channel cable-stayed areas, the towers, additional cables, beams, and piers. The primary structure has six towers. Narrow beam projection skims the main tower façade mainly in golden tones, supplemented by color blocking. The tower lighting design considers vantage points from automobile traffic, boats, and pedestrians, as well as other locations from which the bridge is viewable, while highlighting the main tower's majestic stature. Asymmetric, narrow-beam, color-changing floodlights provide halo lighting on the triangular-shaped sections of cables. In addition to bridge facility and harsh environmental considerations, great care was taken in planning angles and orientation to prevent mutual interference among the lighting and achieve the perfect combination of function and art.

Over 3,000 Color Kinetics Vaya Flood floodlights located on the main towers, cables, bridge contours, and piers provide exceptional flexibility to create eye-catching lighting effects, highlighting the bridge structure in the night sky and expressing its simplicity and elegance.

The bridge’s lighting effects convey the ebb and flow rhythm of the massive structure and create a sense of unity among its distinct navigable areas. The fully connected system provides centralized remote monitoring and management, minimizing operation and maintenance costs.

The Pingtan Strait was once considered a no-bridge construction zone. Completed December 26, 2020, the Pingtan Strait Road-rail Bridge, with an end-to-end connected lighting system, represents a new milestone in the history of Chinese bridge construction.