Held aloft by a honeycomb of red steel, local architects say it should come as no shock that a structure as technologically complex as the Calatrava Peace Bridge would suffer some delays.
On Friday, the city announced a third delay for the bridge’s opening after testing found inadequate welds. The Peace Bridge now may not be completed until 2012. It was originally slated to be ready for pedestrians and cyclists last October.
“These things happen, not only on the Calatrava, but whenever you’re pushing the boundaries of technology,” said Ron Goodfellow, an architect who has been working in Calgary since the ’70s. “We shouldn’t be surprised by this.”
Spanning 130 metres across the Bow River without the aid of cables, arches or pillars, the Peace Bridge’s design has been attempted only a handful of times in the world.
“It’s a three-dimensional curvature and every segment is slightly different because it’s got a slight cant,” he said.
The city’s transportation manager Mac Logan told the Herald that tests with electric probes found inadequate welds at key joints in the bridge. Further testing raised concerns about the welds which were done in Spain before the pieces of the bridge was shipped to Calgary.
“It was a pretty complex project we undertook and our initial expectations were unrealistic,” Logan said. Despite the problems, “there’s nothing here that says the design is flawed.”
The weld problems with the bridge can be attributed to a Spanish subcontractor, not its famous architect, Santiago Calatrava.
The $24.5-million bridge has been the source of troubled waters for almost two years. Critics were angered by the sole-source bidding process, high price and lack of opportunity for local architects to compete for the contract. When complete, it is expected to serve 5,000 pedestrians and cyclists per day.
“This bridge is a piece of art, it’s not a bridge,” said Robert LeBlond, who has worked as an architect in the city for four decades. “It’s structure for art’s sake. The local boys here, we would get crucified for that. If we had to design that bridge, we would be given $2 million and told to do the best you can.”
Few North American cities are giving architects the mandate to create beautiful buildings or public works projects, Goodfellow said. As the recession wears on, most designers have to work within strict budget constraints.
This is in contrast to the lavish skyscrapers, museums and bridges that are under construction in the oil-rich gulf states, or in the rapidly growing developing world.
“The normal economic constraints that go along with building don’t apply to them,” he said.
In that respect, Goodfellow said the Peace Bridge may be a harbinger of good things for the city. Its denizens will be exposed to a new level of design. The bridge is so complex, it’s not something most local architects would have attempted, he added.
But that “complexity brings an increased probability of problems,” he said.
Calgary Herald
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