There were no schematics drawn up in a board room, no funding announcements by smiling politicians, not even a rezoning application to city council.
And yet, Abbotsford has a new walkway traversing a creek and connecting two parts of the city.
Const. Pat Kelly was on a routine patrol when he discovered the bridge constructed out of shopping carts, plywood, pallets and a carpet – “obviously for ease of travel,” he says.
The Abbotsford Police bike squad member stumble upon the engineering feat under Highway 1, near the junction of Lonzo Road and Vedder Way.
“I come around the corner and I’m just shocked to see that,” he says.
On Tuesday, he tweeted a picture of the bridge, captioned “The ingenuity amazes me.”
The ingenuity amazes me pic.twitter.com/n2cnet6xbp
— Cst Pat Kelly APD (@CstKelly) August 16, 2017
Kelly suspects the bridge was built by one or more homeless people seeking an easier route between Vedder Way and Riverside Road and the Riverside Shelter, run by the Lookout Society.
The bike squad’s primary focus is dealing with Abbotsford’s homeless and Kelly says this isn’t the first time he’s been impressed by clever solutions to unique problems.
“The creativity that they have in their tents along with these types of things would boggle the mind. They can become very creative.”
But the new bridge, located on Ministry of Transportation land is an illegal structure, built with stolen property. Kelly said the ministry will be notified and will likely send out a crew to dismantle it.
“Taking it apart would be interesting, to say the least.”
@KelvinGawley
kelvin.gawley@abbynews.com
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