Rainbow Bridge 4 #14043

The Story

This illuminated bridge in downtown Johnstown PA is beautifully lit full length every night by a colored LED light display. The colors change slowly and different ones are used for an occasion, such as green and red for Christmas and gold for nearby Pittsburgh Steelers football games. A schedule of upcoming display colors is actually posted online.

If you live nearby, come to see this unique bridge. It’s quite a sight, especially when a Norfolk Southern Railroad train goes across the top at speed on this mainline to Chicago, formerly the Pennsylvania Railroad main back in the day. This was shot using a panoramic bracket to make seven vertical images that were stitched in the computer.

I stood high on top of the cement levee flood wall above the Conemaugh River…yes, this is the Johnstown of the killer 1888 flood and many others…and fired away mounted on a tripod trying to keep the fingers warm in the chill. I waited to shoot until two cars went under the one arch on the right, leaving two pair of disappearing red taillight streaks in the long exposure, and that is the why of the title: Escape From Rainbow Bridge.

Location: Johnstown, Cambria County, Pennsylvania.