Sea Turtle

I did 30 minutes of Tae-bo. Wow! My legs have not done that much kicking in a while. I felt like I was as slow as a sea turtle. I made it through the class but felt that i was as slow as a sea turtle. Well. That will improve the more I do it.

In terms of the new Cooper River Bridge, it will also help protect the sea turtles by having dim lighting.

Planners dim lighting on Cooper River bridge

Structure's low glow to guard sea turtles

The Associated Press

CHARLESTON - The $632 million Ravenel Bridge linking Charleston and Mount Pleasant over the Cooper River will be lit at night, but the lights will be dimmer than first planned for sea turtle protection.

Initially, planners of the most expensive bridge in state history planned to lightthe cable-stayed bridge with 117,000 watts of light. Now that figure has been reduced to 37,000 watts.

The original proposal was too much light, said Paula Sisson, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

"That number shot up like a giant red flag with us," she said. "A bridge that big and bright would have threatened many species, including turtles and migratory birds."

The state Department of Transportation has agreed to turn off the decorative lighting earlier during the loggerhead sea turtle nesting season.

From May to November, the lights will be turned off at 10 p.m. They will remain on until midnight the rest of the year.

"I told them I wanted the lights turned out, and they said, 'Sure,'" Sisson said. "I was shocked and thrilled that they were taking responsibility for the natural resources."

"We wanted a responsible, aesthetic lighting scheme that would show the bridge off because of the type of structure it is," said Bobby Clair, the state Transportation Department engineer overseeing the project. "I don't think you'll find many cable-stayed bridges in the world that are not flashy and lit up. But ours will be fairly subdued. It is appropriate for the community."

There will be no lights on the bridge's overhead highway signs, which will visible in vehicle headlights. The decorative lights might remain on later during special events such as the Spoleto Festival USA and the Fourth of July, Clair said.

But even the dimmer lights could mean more light pollution and affect stargazing, said Terry Richardson, who teaches physics and astronomy at the College of Charleston.

The city lights wash out the Big Dipper and Cassiopeia on some spring evenings, and Richardson worries more constellations will be lost with the light from the bridge.

Dimming the lights will help protect sea turtles hatchlings who sometimes move toward inland lights, mistaking them for the white line of surf.

"As more and more developments occur, you get this glow around cities," said Sally Murphy, a biologist with the state Department of Natural Resources. "We didn't want the bridge to have a glow that would add to the turtle disorientation problem."

If all goes according to plan, the bridge will open next May.