Thanks to a bunch of walnut shells and some Resort Municipality money, the CP bridge that runs over the Kicking Horse River on the way to the ski hill is now a bit easier on the eyes.
Although there is still some tagging—graffiti with no real artistic value— on the right side of the bridge the Town has used the funding they have for the project and consider it complete, for now. There is a possibility they will continue work on it next year.
The Town of Golden, the Chamber of Commerce and CP have been working on this initiative for several years now. It was one of the first projects planned when the Province announced Golden would be part of its Resort Municipality Initiative.
Jon Wilsgard, Manager of Corporate Administration for the Town of Golden, explained that the tagging on the bridge really didn’t represent the resort feeling our community is trying to represent.
“The bridge had some really unfortunate remarks about people about our community,” said Wilsgard. “ We knew we had to do something about it, but were left with the questions of what and how.”
It was first planned to paint over the graffiti and replace it with some sort of artistic mural, but they Town quickly learned from CP that bridges are constructed to rust because it forms a protective layer. Painting it would be contrary to its structural intent.
Another idea was to erect permanent scaffolding on the bridge to house banners, but this option ended up being too expensive.
Although the bridge is CP property and the tagging didn’t pose any problem to their operations, the company understood the Town’s desire to clean up such a visual landmark in town. Although it took several years, CP did eventually come up with a contract to give the Town permission to go ahead with the project.
Wilsgard explained that the Town decided to use walnut shells to blast the tagging from the bridge instead of a substance like silica or sand for environmental reasons. The Town did get permission through the Ministry of Environment and no harmful substances of any kind went into the Kicking Horse River.
The Town also placed metal plates at an angle on the bottom of the bridge to restrict access for future taggers.
“We’re hoping to create an environment where this sort of tagging doesn’t happen,” said Wilsgard. “We’re happy that we finished the project and think it looks much better than before. It’s too bad we couldn’t have some long-lasting artwork up there, but from a utilitarian perspective—it works. “
Wilsgard also noted that there is some sentiment in communities to provide a pallet for community based –art and although he has heard people talking about it in Golden, there have been no official conversations about the idea amongst Town staff and council.
