Hasta La Ideas

If you thought Santiago Calatrava‘s bridge troubles had ended when the starchitect returned fire last fall on critics of his Peace Bridge in Calgary, you’d be wrong (Why else would we be writing this post then? What a boring conversation that would be). Following his battle to stop Bilbao from mucking up his work, his tourist-eating bridge of doom in Venice, and his might-not-be-safe-in-a-flood river-crosser in Dallas, his bridge in Calgary has been mired in controversy, ranging from cost to appearance to construction delays, resulting in the whole city taking sides. The Peace Bridge was initially scheduled to open in late 2010, but as that deadline’s now come and gone, the local Daily Commercial News reports that the new launch date will be sometime “in the middle of 2011.” Who is to blame? Back in November, Calatrava said that it was construction hold ups and city government bureaucracy. They in turn blamed the architect, saying he and his team were making too many difficult requests that were causing delays and angering the contractors. So who’s to know? In the end, as a city transportation representative told the News, “This is a unique structure that requires a lot of time and attention. We have flexibility with time, but not quality and the budget.”

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