Just three months after six large overhead panels were replaced on Calgary’s iconic Peace Bridge due to vandalism, two handrail panels have been smashed.
“We’ll try and get out there as quickly as we can (to replace them),” general manager of transportation Mac Logan said. “We don’t want to leave it that way. It’s the broken window syndrome. If you have damage, it’s more likely someone will damage another component.”
Security cameras are only at either end of the bridge but the city is planning on adding more to catch different angles. Staff believe the summer damage was caused by vandals throwing rocks or metal objects at the panels.
“We’re looking at some other measures as well. We’ll be talking to the police department about getting additional presence there to try to curtail the damage,” Logan said.
Since opening four years ago, the city has spent $200,000 to replace cracked and shattered glass.
“We knew there was a risk but we did not think that we would see as much damage as we have seen.”
“We did have spare parts for exactly this but the frequency has been much more than expected,” Logan added.
Money spent on the Peace Bridge tends to garner attention. The project sparked controversy from the beginning with a cost of more than $24 million.
“It’s a beautiful bridge. So it’s kind of disheartening that people would want to wreck stuff,” Calgary resident Tracy Wotton said. “It’s kind of concerning. I’d never walk here in the night.”
Crews are also in the process of replacing the light fixtures to the tune of $700,000 this week, after the city had said the original lights couldn’t handle Calgary’s cold winters.
“I don’t really know how that sort of mistake gets made from a planning point of view. It just doesn’t make any sense at all,” Calgary resident Charles Osborne said.
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