A northeast Calgary pedestrian bridge public art project, completed in July 2023 after three years work, was condemned three months later – and is likely slated for demolition.
Crossroads community members are now wondering what will happen to the connection across 16 Avenue NE at 19 Street, and the public art that goes along with it.
The city-funded $23,000 bridge public art project was first commissioned in late 2019, and it started with the addition of birds to the structure’s stairway in December 2020. Finally, road closure permits were approved for two days in July 2023 (at a cost of nearly $500) for local artist Doug Driediger to paint the pedestrian bridge pillars.
According to the City, they’d been regularly monitoring the pedestrian overpass in that location as it was approaching the end of its life cycle.
“A recent inspection of the structure found that it had reached its end of service life condition, and needed to be closed to pedestrians to help avoid potential safety concerns,” read an email from the City of Calgary.
NOTE: The project, while receiving funding from the City of Calgary, was not a City of Calgary public art project. It was a community-driven endeavour.
The project was initiated by the Crossroads Community Association (CCA) back in 2019, and over three years, work was done to affix birds to the staircase rails. Murals were also commissioned for the pillars. Those were completed in July 2023.
By October, signs were erected noting that the bridge was closed.
Information provided to LiveWire Calgary indicated that at the time, City of Calgary roads representatives were a part of ongoing conversations in 2018 and 2019 about the bridge. Those conversations included community concerns over the safety appearance of the bridge. At that time, community members were told the bridge was safe.
More rigor needed?
While the public art loss is a problem for some in the community, Ron O’Shea, current CCA president, said they’re concerned about the loss of the bridge, too. He said it was well used, though it needed to be upgraded to allow for other mobility options, like bikes.
He’s concerned, however, about a timeline for improvements to the area. O’Shea has been actively involved in the Mayland Heights community since the 1980s and said they’ve been waiting “decades” for improvements to that intersection. Still, he welcomed potential improvements.
“Anything is better than nothing,” he said.
“Something new, whether it be five years down the road, or ten years down the road.”
Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot said the long-term goal for the intersection is an at-grade connection north and south across 16 Avenue. In the future, the bridge won’t be needed, he said. He didn’t want to put public safety at risk to protect a capital investment in a public art project.
“Good undertaking by the community, albeit they probably should have had a benefit of more rigor in assessing the structural integrity of that bridge, prior to undertaking that artwork,” he said.
“So, maybe it was a mistake to do all that artwork on that bridge to start with. If we had known what we know today, administration probably would have said no, don’t. It’s us throwing away good money after bad here.”
Potential community connector
O’Shea said there’s a potential silver lining out of the turn of events. He said there’s been a bit of a Hatfield-and-McCoy’s undertone playing out between Mayland Heights and Vista Heights because the latter doesn’t feel like they belong to the Crossroads communities. That’s in part to a 50-year-old community sign that says “Crossroads” on the Mayland Heights side of the street.
“To try to mend those fences has been a bit of a task that is a bit daunting, so the idea of the bridge being painted was a wonderful thing,” he said.
Now he’s thinking they could turn it into a different kind of community connector, by incorporating the old bridge pillars into a new community sign that shows the communities have a bond.
“We’d like to see some signage that says ‘Welcome to Crossroads Community Association’, that sort of cradles the connection between Vista and Mayland,” he said.
The city said they would have more information for the community early in 2024.
“An at-grade pedestrian crossing exists at the adjacent intersection which supports pedestrian mobility,” they said in an email.
“We are still working to determine next steps, including possible upgrades to the intersection and certainly consideration for how best to preserve, relocate, or have the artwork recreated.”
