Riley Brandt

Ald. Ric McIver is opposed to the city’s $25 million pedestrian bridge project. It’s just not high on our priority list. We can’t fund something like this while other projects go unfunded’

On Monday, November 3, Ald. Ric McIver will push for a second vote on a city council plan to build two designer pedestrian bridges across the Bow River. Approval for $25 million in funding for the bridges was granted in September by a 7-6 vote, but McIver is hoping for support to reverse the decision. “It’s just not high on our priority list, and we can’t fund something like this while other projects go unfunded,” says McIver.

McIver will need the support of nine of his colleagues in order to move on to a second vote. He claims that he is not opposed to pedestrian spending, but bridges such as these are not among the top priorities on city council’s to-do list, and he thinks the money should go towards a matter of greater importance. “We’ve [city council members] all agreed that this is not our top priority,” he says.

The estimated $25 million would be collected through the provincial infrastructure fund, but would only cover the designing of both bridges and the construction of one. The second bridge, set to be built near the Calgary Zoo, would be funded through future land sales in the East Village.

While the possibility of using an alternative, cheaper design has been discussed, Ald. Druh Farrell feels that there is a misconception about how much projects like these cost. “A clear-stand bridge over a river, just for pedestrians, would cost $15 million to $18 million. Edmonton is building a very simple bridge like this for $20 million,” says Farrell. “Any reference to a $5 million bridge over a river is just inaccurate.”

Byron Miller, an urban political geographer at the University of Calgary, doesn’t think that it’s unreasonable for some city council members to want to construct breathtaking structures as opposed to regular ones. “One of the long-standing debates about Calgary in general is whether we should try to create a city that is merely functional, or if it’s something more than function,” says Miller. “And in a lot of cases, if you really want a city that is distinctive, that has iconic structures, that is beautiful… that costs money.”

According to Miller, an economic argument can be made for beauty, and sometimes spending a little more can have its benefits. “There have been periods in our history where we have actually paid attention to beauty, The Centre Street Bridge is a good example of that,” says Miller. “Building that as something that would have been purely functional was certainly a possibility, but we chose to build something that was beautiful as well. I don’t think you’ll find many Calgarians saying ‘Well, I wish we had a very plain, purely functional bridge instead of the one that we have.’ Usually, once we come to build these things, people come to appreciate them and are glad that we did.”

McIver claims that many citizens he has spoken with are not in support of the idea, but Farrell justifies the decision as “more than warranted.” “City council has an established goal of making Calgary more walkable, and this is a major step into making access to the core for pedestrians and cyclists better,” says Farrell. Of the 120,000 people who work in the downtown core —a number expected to double within the next 20 years— approximately 13,000 commute across the Bow River on any given weekday. “They’re needed now and certainly as we plan to increase the population in the immediate area by tens of thousands,” Farrell adds.

According to Farrell, the city has a history of building very narrow pedestrian walkways due to lower pedestrian traffic in the past. This has caused problems during major events in which the existing bridges become overburdened. Festivals that take place at Prince’s Island Park, for example, bring masses of people across these walkways. “Safety becomes an issue,” says Farrell. “Access for EMS to get to Prince’s Island during these festivals is very difficult.”

There has been talk amongst council members of hiring world-famous architect Santiago Calatrava to design the bridges. Hopes are high that by designing esthetically appealing structures, tourism will increase and it will contribute positively to Calgary’s overall identity.

Despite the quickly approaching city council meeting that will revisit the bridge project, Farrell says she is not worried. “We warrant the need for a bridge if there are 500 crossings in a day — that’s when we make the decision to build a pedestrian bridge. We suspect that these bridges will have 10 times that amount, so 5,000 crossings a day.”