An LED showcase: Cree lights up San Francisco Bay Bridge

Cree just may be hard pressed to find a better way to display the sharpness, power and durability of its LED lighting than a just-unveiled project along side partner Musco Lighting.

Cree LEDs - more than 51,000 of them and known as XM-L - shine brightly on the new East Span of the majestic San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

In photos and with details of the project led light china released Thursday, Cree (Nasdaq: CREE) and Musco, which designed the fixtures containing the LEDs, touted the project.

The new East Span of the bridge stretches more than 2,000 feet high across the bay. Some 1,600 fixtures designed by Musco line the span and contain almost 51,500 LEDs. The project was finished after three years of testing and design.

Cree says its LEDs will cut energy costs for the bridge 50 percent and the LEDs are expected to last 15 years.

“We wanted the East Span of the Bay Bridge to not only be aesthetically pleasing LED street light wholesaler, but also cost-effective and functional for travelers,” said Andrew Fremier, deputy executive director at Bay Area Toll Authority. “The new LED lighting solution by Musco using Cree’s LED technology truly improves the way residents and visitors experience the Bay Bridge, providing crisp, brilliant light for all who cross it, while delivering energy efficiency and payback for years.”

Cree is a global leader in LED lighting, from lighting for home lamps to street lights - and now one of the world's best-known bridges.

“As LEDs evolved and continued to become more efficient wholesale LED tube lights, we knew the technology would allow us to develop a light fixture that could meet the bridge’s meticulous design requirements with no compromises,” said Jeff Rogers, vice president of developmental sales at Musco, in a statement. “Cree delivered the performance, reliability and design flexibility for us to create a custom designed solution. Once we demonstrated our custom solution using Cree’s XM-L LEDs, Caltrans and their design partners believed in our vision.”