The Bay Lights

Widely considered one of the world’s great public artworks, The Bay Lights on the western span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge debuted on March 5, 2013. The installation by artist Leo Villareal was instantly beloved and came to define San Francisco’s waterfront visually and energetically.

The brainchild of Illuminate Founder and CEO Ben Davis, the seminal artwork–originally with 25,000 individually controllable LEDs, 1.8 miles long, and rising 500 feet above bay waters–set new standards for monumental expressionism and collaboration. Davis rallied a vast and generous community around the project, including gaining permission from more than a dozen governmental agencies.

Initially a temporary, two-year installation, the lights came down in 2015 and returned on January 30, 2016. More than $13M was raised by Illuminate to fund the two installations. On the tenth anniversary of their initial grand lighting, The Bay Lights went dark as a new campaign began to bring them back in a new configuration designed to withstand the harsh conditions of the Bay and with double the number of LEDs that will let communities around the Bay experience the artwork.

An extraordinary coalition of philanthropists came together to fund the restoration of the Bay Lights, which returned with 48,000 LEDs during a Grand Relighting Ceremony on Friday, March 20, 2026.

The Bay Lights continue to be a source of innovation and inspiration, as well as a beacon of love, community, and generosity.

The latest version will soon include a design enhancement, The Bay Lights 360, that expands who can experience The Bay Lights.

An additional strand of LEDs has been installed on the inward-facing side of the same northern cable plane, allowing the artwork to be visible from additional Bay Area viewpoints, including communities that previously had limited visibility.

This additional strand of lights can be controlled (turned off) independently of the original Bay Lights art installation and Caltrans will be able to turn these lights off if necessary.

The goal is to bring the gift of public art more equitably across the region while maintaining the bridge’s safety and integrity.

This enhancement will be introduced following completion of final safety review and testing in coordination with traffic engineers and relevant agencies.

Safety is the first priority. The inward-facing lights associated with The Bay Lights 360 are angled away from drivers’ direct line of sight, and Illuminate is continuing a structured review process to ensure safe operation before it is introduced.

For more information about how you can support the project, please contact David Hatfield at david@illuminate.org