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Even before the bright, steel-arched replacement Walterdale Bridge opened in September 2017, the structure was a magnet for attention.

People who couldn’t assemble an Ikea shelf without swearing a blue streak griped about long construction delays, while calls to preserve its historic, surface-humming predecessor in some fashion were shrugged off by some local politicians.

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Yet for an architectural object with so much affixed tension, the new Walterdale quickly clicked without friction as a visual signifier of Edmonton, as instantly recognizable as the legislature dome or Gallagher Park hill during a Folk Fest sunset.

As the High Level Bridge underwent various rusty-scalpel surgeries to the west — with its LED screensaver lights and ill-considered suicide barriers which as a bonus made cycling considerably more dangerous — the latest version of the Walterdale confidently proves with its gentle curves, separated pathway and tasteful lighting how much thoughtful design actually matters. (DIALOG, a firm with offices in Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, Toronto and San Francisco, were the main architects and designers of the bridge structure.)

This feels especially true at night, when the lights paint an oval eye using the North Saskatchewan River’s reflection. Or, seen from a distance, its two luminous curves create the silhouette of a dove’s head.