Safety review incoming after Bridgeland neighbourhood sign loses another letter - Calgary

A sign marking the entrance to Bridgeland is another letter and the incident has prompted the City of Calgary to step in to assess road safety in the area.

An accident during Friday’s snowstorm destroyed the “N” on the Hollywood-inspired sign, but the driver fled the scene.

The sign in the north-east parish of Bridgeland has taken a number of hits over the last year, resulting in two missing letters. Global News

Calgary Police said they were investigating the incident and found no suspects.

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It was an eerily similar scene last April when a vehicle jumped the curb and broke off the ‘D’; The hit-and-run led to charges against the driver.

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The shrinking sign at the intersection of Memorial Drive and 9 Street NE has become the subject of many jokes about the neighborhood’s name.

“We now refer to the neighborhood as Bridgla instead of Bridgeland,” Alex MacWilliam, president of the Bridgeland-Riverside Community Association, told Global News.

The “Bridgeland” sign is shown near the intersection of Memorial Drive and 9 Street NE after its second “D” was hit by a driver on April 20, 2022. Global News

Now the focus has shifted from simply fixing the memorable sign to making the whole area safer for the people walking there.

MacWilliam said pedestrian safety is an issue at the intersection, with many people walking back and forth to the LRT station, several apartment buildings and a nearby daycare.

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“Traffic just comes off (Memorial Drive) at too high a speed…even though it was icy, that just illustrated the problem,” MacWilliam said.

“We’re only concerned next time it’s not a sign, it’s a person.”

In a statement to Global News, the City of Calgary said it would initiate a security review at the intersection to determine what action needs to be taken.

“In the meantime, we would like to remind motorists to adapt their habits to winter driving conditions by slowing down and allowing more space to stop,” the city’s statement said. “Watch out for trouble spots like hills, curves, bridge decks and intersections.”

count. Gian-Carlo Carra, who represents the Northeast Calgary neighborhood, said improvements were made five years ago to tighten the turn and encourage drivers to slow down.

“We remodeled it so people have to be more thoughtful and slow down as hell when they come into the neighborhood,” Carra said.

“Interestingly, when the sign is removed, the weather is bad.”

The temporary metal and wood sign has been in place since 2019 with donation funds from the developer of a new building in the neighborhood, with the Bridgeland-Riverside Community Association taking responsibility for the sign’s maintenance.

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According to Carra, there are three options for the shield’s future: rebuild it as is, rebuild the shield as a permanent “bollard” structure, or remove the shield entirely.

“I’d like the shield to be returned, I could live with that if it stayed an outlier,” Carra said. “I would appreciate it being built to protect the neighborhood’s pedestrians.”

MacWilliam said the community association is in the process of repairing the “D” with a contractor, but the recent incident with the “N” has put those repairs on hold.

The situation is further complicated by a fire at the community hall late last year, which has presented the Bridgeland-Riverside Community Association with some financial challenges.

But the sign, which has had hits over the past year, has been a source of “community spirit,” MacWilliam said, with everything from jokes to someone dressing up as “D” for Halloween last year.

“The amount of bad puns and various other things that came out really set a good example for our neighborhood.”