‘You better build a new one’: Edmonton dog park bridge not built by city to be removed

Jackie Parker Park in Mill Woods could soon have a bridge to nowhere.

Liz Moniz comes with her two dogs twice a day and walks along the bridge every time. She calls the off-leash dog park “Disneyland for dogs.”

“There’s obstacles, there’s trees, there’s adventure, there’s basically rides, they go up a hill, they drop down, the water,” said Moniz.

But soon, the bridge could be sealed off.

The City of Edmonton tells CityNews the bridge was not built by them and only learned about it recently, even though Edmontonians CityNews spoke to say it’s been here for likely years and possibly built by volunteers.

An inspection by city engineers deemed it unsafe, and it is scheduled for removal next month.

“It is unpermitted and not in the city’s inventory of maintained assets, so the age of the bridge is unknown,” the city says. “The bridge is located on city property. There is no formal trail system leading to the structure, and it crosses provincial (Crown) land along Mill Creek.”

The bridge now has “trail closed” signs on both sides, but people still walk it every day.

“It is spongy, but I don’t think it’s unsafe,” said Moniz before adding in a sarcastic tone, “totally unsafe.”

“Everybody loves it. The dogs like it.”

There’s even a sentimental value to this bridge. One spot had tags of dogs that passed away, put there by their owners. And so it was appropriately nicknamed the “rainbow bridge.”

“I was going to put three of them on, and then they took them away,” said Moniz.

The future is still unknown, as the city says it’s talking with people within the community about potential options.

People CityNews spoke to think there should be a bridge here.

“You can dig into your pockets a little bit and make us a new bridge. If a regular person can do this on their own, the city can get somebody,” said Sabina Balough.

Douglas Applegarth added: “I think it’s still usable. Maybe if they see it as unsafe, they could solidify it.”