A proposed project to ornament the New River Gorge Bridge with a decorative lighting scheme has drawn both support and criticism from residents of Fayette County. Some see the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) lighting concept as an economic development opportunity; others are concerned about energy usage, cost and environmental impacts.

One person who has thought a lot about light in the New River Gorge is Carl Frischkorn, managing partner for Wild Rock West Virginia, a “sustainably planned, mountain community” perched on the rim of the canyon.

When Wild Rock first came to the area, the community was concerned that the night sky and viewshed would be marred by the development’s lights, so Frischkorn said his company proposed a plan to cut down on their lighting footprint.

“We chose to take the down-lighting, low-wattage, sustainable approach to the night sky. Frankly, we’d love to see other developers do that, whether it’s commercial facilities or the DOT,” said Frischkorn.

Back when rumors first circulated about the potential for a lighting project on the bridge, Frischkorn was skeptical.

“Lighting the New River Gorge Bridge would only add to the light pollution that Fayetteville already suffers from highways, shopping centers and convenience stores,” he wrote in an August e-mail.

But since then, he said his outlook on the project has brightened.

“I listened to an awful lot of people talk about their objections,” he said. “I thought, ‘What a great opportunity to have a positive dialogue about what could happen.’ I thought Wild Rock might be helpful in stimulating that conversation. I think it’s a very controversial issue, and there are aspects that are unattractive, but I think it could be made to be very attractive.”

The Wild Rock development team is drafting a set of recommendations for how best to carry out the project should it gain public support, suggesting that it should be done using a “sustainable approach.”

Frischkorn sees it as an opportunity to use environmentally responsible design techniques. He said he would like to see alternative energy used to power an LED lighting system, for example.

In addition, “green” buildings at the observation area, he said, could be built to Leadership in Environmental Energy and Design (LEED) specifications. The DOT’s concept proposal includes a new overlook from which to view the spectacle, either on the southwestern canyon rim or at a lower elevation.

 According to their website, this overlook facility would include parking, an observation deck, rest rooms and vending facilities.

The project could “set an example for the region,” said Frischkorn, and become an environmental education opportunity, with local school children visiting the site and learning lessons about sustainable design. 

“Culturally, it could help set a new standard for how we affect the night sky with creative and sensitive approaches to illumination,” he said. “This standard might then be applied to other businesses along (U.S.) Route 19 to help change how they manage their outdoor lighting.”

For years, Fayette Station Road, which winds from the gorge rim down to the New River and back, has been the focus of complaints about road quality, with its potholes and steep, hairpin turns. Frischkorn said the lighting project could change that. While no specific site has been selected for the observation area, the DOT’s website says it would be accessed via Fayette Station.

“Maybe it would cause the highway department to focus on improving that road to make it better for locals and tourists to come and drive it,” said Frischkorn.

It could also lead to a safer intersection at Lansing Road and U.S. 19, he said. 

Frischkorn said he believes the lighting schedule should be limited to peak times and weekends.

“There’s no sense in having it lit all night long. And you don’t have to light it up to where you could play touch football at night,” he said.

Frischkorn has spoken briefly with a lighting consultant and said there are more creative ways to design the lighting scheme than those proposed by the DOT. He said the present concept feels “metropolitan” and that something more in harmony with the bridge’s rural surroundings would be preferable.

“There’s a lot of opportunity to interpret it differently and make it as magical at night as it is during the day,” he said. “You could light it with a rural aesthetic, ghostlike, with interesting shapes and shades. What if the lights were in a non-regular pattern, with different levels of intensity that would show off the arch or the vertical or horizontal structure at different times?”

Frischkorn cautioned that he is not a designer, but said that he and his company would be pleased to be involved in the process of thinking about the aesthetics of the lighting project if it moves forward.

The Wild Rocks development team includes Frischkorn, a West Virginia native and experienced developer, and Tag Galyean, an architect whose clients include The Greenbrier, The Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs and The Lodge at Pebble Beach.

More than anything, Frischkorn said he would like to see the community engage in a positive and meaningful dialogue about the idea before rejecting it outright.

The DOT has emphasized that the project is still in the concept stage. The estimated $4-6 million price tag has not yet been addressed, for example.

The public has until Nov. 30 to submit comments and participate in the online opinion poll at www.transportation.wv.gov/bridgelighting.

— E-mail: cmoore@register-herald.com