EDMONTON – A local locksmith wants to ensure there’s no love lost as the city prepares to remove love locks from the High Level Bridge.
The tradition of love locks on bridges has become popular around the world in recent years. Couples put their monikers on the padlock and throw away the key in a gesture that’s meant to symbolize everlasting love and commitment.
But the city sees it as a more of a nuisance. It claims the locks get in the way of maintenance and pose a risk to boaters. And it’s a concern that isn’t unique to Edmonton.
New York City officials have removed hundreds of locks from the Brooklyn Bridge over safety worries.
In Paris, a portion of Paris’ Pont des Arts bridge actually collapsed this summer under the weight of the growing number of padlocks left by couples.
WATCH: Perhaps it was too much love. A small section of Paris’ famed “love locks” bridged collapsed.
Officials in Rotterdam, Netherlands have dealt with a similar problem by creating a heart installation overlooking the river, where couples are encouraged to seal their love with a lock.
Edmonton locksmith Martin Badke hopes to create something similar here.
“I want to build a symbolic bridge…with the look and feel of the bridge,” he explained. “And all of the love locks are gathered in one place on something that’s meant for them.”
Badke dds there are currently about 100 love locks on the High Level Bridge. He has taken photos of them in an effort to find their owners and get their permission to pick the lock.
“Then the city can do its maintenance without having to cut them all off,” he said.
“And in the future when we have…a symbolic bridge…these people can come back and re-attach their lock.”
Badke hopes to model his idea for Edmonton’s love lock monument on the Light the Bridge campaign, which was funded through private donations.
To find out more about his vision, you can visit Love Lock YEG on Twitter or Facebook.
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