Next spring, the Mississippi River bridges will be decorated with lights to provide a nighttime attraction on the Natchez and Vidalia, La., riverfronts.

Mississippi Department of Transportation district engineer Darrell Broome says contract bids for the lighting will be opened next Tuesday.

Broome says the $1 million project will include aesthetic lighting to highlight the bridges’ steel and concrete structure and roadway lighting that will improve driving conditions. The lights will also delineate the outline of the bridges.

Broome says most of the lights will be mounted on the outside of the bridge and will not affect the vision of drivers.

He says once a contract is awarded, construction could start as early as late July or August and be completed in spring 2010.