CALGARY, Alberta, March 24 (UPI) -- The long-anticipated and sometimes maligned pedestrian and cyclist Peace Bridge over the Bow River in Calgary, Alberta, was inaugurated Saturday.
More than 1,000 cheering people, accompanied by bagpipers, stilt-walkers and public officials, attended the festivities marking the opening of the bright-red, helix-shaped bridge, the Calgary Herald reported.
The $25 million tubular bridge, designed by Swiss-based Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava to carry about 5,000 people a day, had been conceived in late 2007 and was to have been completed in October 2010.
The bridge has been criticized by some who questioned the need for it since there are other bridges, its cost, its unusual design and the lack of competition for the project, the newspaper said.
Many Calgarians, however, were excited by the cutting-edge design and welcomed its completion.
