Bridgeland’s sign loses another letter, prompting safety review

If you are new to Calgary, you might think the inner city community Bridgland is called Bridgela. But its just Bridgeland going through a bit of an identity crisis after two vehicles crashed into the community’s sign.

Because of this, the safety of the area is being re-examined.

“Our more serious front was how dangerous that intersection is,” said Alex MacWilliam, president, Bridgeland-Riverside Community Association.

The sign was paid for by a developer who built in the area.

“The speed limit is supposed to be 40 coming off there and it goes down very quickly to 30 in the playground zone, but people just ignore it,” MacWilliam said.

Last April, a snow fall caused some slippery conditions in the area, and a vehicle hit the sign, taking down the D.

After that, the Bridgeland Community Association was patient, as insurance claims were worked through.

“And eventually we reached an agreement with the insurance company,” added MacWilliam.

MacWilliam says a new letter was about to be installed, replacing the missing D.

“The decision was made a week or two before last Friday, when we had another snow storm, and somebody went in and damaged it even further. So, it’s probably a good thing we hadn’t gone in and had the repairs done because it would have all been for not,” MacWilliam explained.

MacWilliam adds it’s been a source of humour in the last year, as “people started buying little Ds and sticking them beside it.”

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Also, last Halloween, one Calgary man got creative, dressing up as the D.

“We sort of joked at the board of perhaps applying to the City of Calgary to officially change our name of the community to BridgeLan,” he said.

Another vehicle hit the sign last Friday, taking the N with it, making it Bridgela this time — But all fun aside – the ongoing issues have surfaced a deeper issue, especially with a daycare in the area.

A safety review by the city is now underway.

“And we’re really concerned about the next time this may not just be a letter on a sign that gets hit. It may be an adult or a child,” he said.

MacWilliam says once the review is done, they’ll revisit a solution for the sign – currently there’s no timeline – but they’re hoping to have it fixed before next Halloween.