Tegenbosch Bicycle Bridge

Philips Heymans University of Eindhoven and the city of Eindhoven are joined in project called ‘Shine your light on 040, ’ an initiative that aims to improve the living standards in the city of Eindhoven over a period of five years. Together with citizens and entrepreneurs, ideas and possibilities are researched and tested in the area.

One of these ideas was to provide passage for bicycle riders across the N2 and A2 highways near Eindhoven Airport to improve access to northwest Eindhoven, which is important for companies located in the area and the Eindhoven Airport. It was also important to local citizens that the bridge provide a unique cross-over biking experience with dynamic lighting effects. The 160 m (525 ft) bicycle bridge is named Tegenbosch after a farm that used to be located nearby. In October 2020, the bridge was successfully installed over fourteen lanes in an open-air operation and is expected to open this fall with a light spectacle.

The project included 394 nodes of Color Kinetics FlexElite IntelliHue and 20 Color Kinetics Blast Powercore, IntelliHue luminaires, as well as 4 Color Kinetics PDS-400 48V CA4 and 20 Color Kinetics Data Enabler Pro power/data supplies, a controller, and ActiveSite gateway to remotely monitor and manage the system. FlexElite is used in the handrail and changes color. Every season there is a different set of colors pre-programmed and, depending on the speed of people passing by, the colors change within that season’s set of colors.

One of the challenges of this project was posed by metal netting, 4 m (13 ft) high, that hangs off the bridge to prevent objects from being thrown off. Arms/brackets for the Blast Powercore luminaires, were installed to accommodate the net. Moreover, to avoid testing the lighting system above the highway to demonstrate it worked, testing was conducted alongside the highway before the bridge was moved to its current position above the highways.

The bridge allows for different directions of traffic, varying numbers of passengers, and provides various points along the way where cyclists and pedestrians can slow down and enjoy interesting views of the bridge. With illumination that provides stylish white light 70% of the time and colorful visual sparkle 30% of the time, this biking bridge provides a unique riding experience at night.