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Posted Jul 30, 2009, 2:31 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2009
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Two articles which answer some questions that have come up on the thread, plus another one which leaves me asking the question "why won't the sun just let this drop?? what happened to just reporting the news instead of trying to create it??
From the Herald:
Quote:
Calgary Peace Bridge design not first of its kind
Span called part of a 'new wave' of structures
By Jason Markusoff, Calgary HeraldJuly 30, 2009 7:23 AMBe the first to post a comment
StoryPhotos ( 1 )
The City of Calgary pegs the overall cost of the Peace Bridge at $24.5 million.Photograph by: Courtesy, City of CalgaryCALGARY - The tubular design of Calgary's forthcoming Peace Bridge may be familiar to anybody who has driven the M8 expressway through central Scotland since November.
The Harthill footbridge, located at a major highway service station, is a similar helix-like cylinder spanning straight above the highway. Completed last fall, it follows the same helical truss style as the award-winning 2004 Greenside Place Link bridge that joins two buildings over a street in Edinburgh, Scotland.
"I'm not going to tell you it's the first in the world, but (the Peace Bridge) definitely is in a new wave of structures," said Jadwiga Kroman, the City of Calgary's manager of bridges and structures. "It's a theoretical idea that's been around for a little bit, but it's very challenging to produce."
Calgary may not be getting a completely one-of-a-kind bridge, but architect Santiago Calatrava has proposed a span over the Bow that is certainly rare, and at 130 metres it will be longer than the 90-metre Harthill bridge, and more than twice as wide as that Scottish highway pedestrian overpass. Scotland's bridges aren't red, either.
Debate continued to pulse through Calgary about the long-awaited design of the $24.5-million bridge for pedestrians and cyclists between Sunnyside and Eau Claire. It's been likened to a giant cardiac stent, a candy cane, subway tunnel, drinking straw and finger-trap toy.
"I think it looks like a ghastly argyle sock-- why buy "Armani" when you can shop at Wal-Mart?" Herald reader Vicky Moorman quipped, in a swipe at the bridge's cost and extravagance.
Calgary architect Tony Leong called the controversy overblown, and wondered why critics don't seethe as often over costly overpasses or other city expenditures of benefit to fewer than the 5,000 people the city figures will use the Peace Bridge daily when it opens in fall 2010.
"Kudos to the city for looking at things long-term for a change--even Parisians hated the Eiffel Tower once upon a time," Leong said.
"I can tell you that maybe one or two (design) firms in the city would have the imagination to do this project, and even fewer engineers would have the guts to stamp the drawings."
Although some Calgary designers chafed at the lack of a chance to try designing the new bridge, the next footbridge at East Village will be open to a design competition in mid-August, the area's developer said.
"It never made it a choice to do it another way," said Chris Ollenberger of Calgary Municipal Land Corp., when asked why he didn't sole-source a designer like Calatrava.
The eastern pedestrian bridge will be about 11/2 times as long as the Peace Bridge, touching down on St. Patrick Island before extending again to the northern Bow River pathway. Its cost will be determined by the eventual design, but be paid through taxes levied on East Village-area property owners.
For the Peace Bridge, city officials plan to seek construction contractors this fall. They've already conceived a way to assemble the bridge that might become a spectacle in its own right, Kroman said.
Crews will fuse together or "splice" the steel helix parts and complete the long cylinder on the south bank of the Bow. Then, likely over one or two days next summer, they'll lift the structure onto giant rollers and slowly push it with a launching hydraulic jack across the river, Kroman said. Two cranes will help guide the red tube onto its north-bank abutments.
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From the Sun:
Quote:
Bridge game not over yet
City has more cards to play with new span in East Village
By RICK BELL
What are these? Don't calm down yet. We've only just begun.
They roll out the drawings of the red snake and, in a few weeks, the next designer footbridge, with an available budget of at least $25.5 million, kicks off.
And ... Holy Iconic Architecture, Batman ... it's at least one and a half times longer than the Calatrava creation.
Now don't forget about this footbridge in the East Village.
On Aug. 17, a competition begins among interested architects of the world to sketch the design of this footbridge and, with no helipad near, it doesn't have to be a snake. It can soar like an eagle and not only span the river but reach for the stars with cables and towers galore.
Some sketches from the designers could be in by September and we could have a winner and their drawings and a name, not necessarily having any connection to soldiers unless people really get mad, by early next year with construction beginning late next year, right after the red snake is in place.
The dough for Footbridge No. 2, touted by the usual aldermen as the second injection of civic style, comes from dollars borrowed by the city to be paid back from future tax dollars paid out by future development of the East Village. Got it? So it is still tax money.
There is no budget set because there is no design yet. But those in charge tell us if the design and construction requires more than the $25.5 million approved by city council they can get more dollars without going to council directly.
You see, the development in the East Village and the Footbridge No. 2 is being run out of a corporation set up by the city and, if additional coin is needed, the corporation can go to its shareholder, the city, and get it. There is a member of council on the corporation's board of directors. Bronco. There is a member of council very involved since East Village is in their area. Ald. Druh Farrell.
You need good news?
The short list of designs will be made public before a selection is made. Meetings will be set up for citizens to put in their two cents on the $25.5- million design, or whatever it will cost. Who knows, maybe Calatrava will win another contract.
The bridge is quite a bit bigger than the red snake because it must connect the south bank of the Bow with St. Patrick's Island and with the north bank of the Bow. On the south bank, it is located east of the Langevin Bridge, the bridge by the Drop-in Centre, and west of a rickety wooden suspension bridge, which is west of the zoo.
"It might be a bit premature to shoot the messenger. The bridge doesn't have to make a statement. It has to be elegant, efficient and functional," says Chris Ollenberger, boss of East Village, who is well aware his venture lies in the shadow of Calatrava.
"We're not replacing four-way stops with lights. We need some discussion with the public."
Chris likes the Peace Bridge and thinks, with it being red, it will look best in winter.
"I think a bit of a bar has been set," he says, of the bridge we now know so well.
"We're over a million people and 100 years old and we have to start expressing who we are instead of building concrete bridges saying we're here for $10 and 10 years when we're not."
He says this footbridge will be well used and those on the flyover or the Langevin Bridge or rafting down the Bow will be able to see a beautiful piece of work. The boozed-up rafters will be able to see the bridge double. Bonus.
Seriously, one fly remains in the ointment. If Druh continues to quote her well-thumbed edition of Snobbery For Dummies, the fury will most certainly be far from over.
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And... from where else.... the Sun...
Quote:
Run on it!
Our Opinion: Council should stake jobs on Peace Bridge plan
By CALGARY SUN
Last Updated: 30th July 2009, 3:55am
What are these? We've seen the lightning rod across the Bow.
Now it's time to fire a warning shot across the bow of city council: Don't build it without a mandate from the people.
It's clear many, many Calgarians have little desire for the so-called Peace Bridge, its $24.5-million price tag and funky modern design.
The timing isn't right, the location is questionable and a late-in-the-day decision to link it to our patriotism, which smacks of a smokescreen, are all valid reasons to give pause.
It's equally clear Mayor Dave Bronconnier and a majority of his aldermen -- Druh Farrell, Joe Ceci, John Mar, Bob Hawkesworth, Brian Pincott and Linda Fox-Mellway voted for the bridge while Gord Lowe and Dale Hodges were absent -- are quite happy to shove it down taxpayers' throats come hell or high water.
Farrell and friends will say we lack vision.
Well, we say we've seen enough.
It's time to stop work and take this plan to the people who will actually be paying for it.
Put this project on hold and campaign on it in next fall's municipal election.
Yes, we know there may be money thrown away if this bridge is never built.
We also know you don't throw good money after bad -- even if it's not your money.
Council, do the right thing, for once, and let the people decide if this bridge should ever see the light of day.
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