For now, it’s a banana-hued bridge to nowhere, a steel skeleton jutting north from Dan Leckie Way and spanning only half the length of the rail corridor south of Front St.

But it’s the beginning of a hard-fought-for pedestrian bridge, one that will link Portland St. and the King St. W. and Spadina Ave. neighbourhood to the CityPlace condominiums and the city’s waterfront.

“We’re feeling quite good about actually getting this built. After 25 years of planning, we’re seeing this whole neighbourhood getting built out,” said Lynda Macdonald, a community planning manager with the City of Toronto.

The bridge — named Puente de Luz, Spanish for “Bridge of Light” — is something condominium developer Concord Adex is obligated to provide, in exchange for the rights to develop the area south of the rail tracks. A 1985 land rights agreement says the land developer must finance and build the bridge, with the city taking ownership upon completion.

But the project became mired in conflicts when disagreements about the bridge’s design arose with GO Transit and CN Rail.

In 2009, it was decided that the bridge had to be built higher than anticipated, to protect GO and CN rail signal sight lines. Then, the agreed-upon height — 11.7 meters — brought the bridge into air space owned by CN Rail.

After discussions with the rail company, the city ultimately paid CN Rail $500,000, using money from other developments.

“There was a back and forth negotiation, and we said, ‘Fine, we will agree to pay for the air rights to make sure this thing happens,’” Macdonald said.

Problems also arose when tenants of a Concord Adex building were unable to pay their mortgages due to bridge construction delays. Mortgage agreements come into effect once a building is registered, but the original deal with the city required the bridge to be completed before registration could occur.

The city and developer changed the requirement, and the condo was registered immediately afterwards, said Gabriel Leung, director of development with Concord Adex.

Now finally being built — the first section went up this past weekend — the walkway brings a shock of yellow to the area’s typically brown, grey and black urban backdrop.

The structure is modelled after a series of similarly golden-hued bridges in Pittsburgh, and the design is by Chilean artist Francisco Gazitua, whose sculptures also appear at condo projects in Liberty Village.

The bridge’s tubular shape and design has drawn comparisons to Calgary’s yet-to-be-built Peace Bridge, which will span the city’s Bow River and has a similar design, though will be its own distinctive red colour.

The similarities were drawing some tongue-in-cheek comments on Twitter, suggesting that Toronto was copying the design by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava.

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Years ago, Calatrava designed another Toronto pedestrian span, the white-arched Mimico Creek Bridge.

The Puente de Luz project should be completed by 2012.