As you are well aware from reading our blog and following our social media, our family loves getting out and exploring Cambridge. We like to find all the unique and special areas of town that make Cambridge what it is. Often this means we are exploring areas of town that not everyone knows of or trekking back to areas we all know and love such as city hall or one of our many parks. We have a lot to be proud of living in this little section of Ontario and a lot to look forward to as well.
Recently, we have posted some pictures on social media regarding the new pedestrian bridge that is being installed over the Grand River in Galt. We are excited by this for many reasons. The bridge is not only going to give us another place to take great pictures, but it is going to help make our river-scape just that much more beautiful.
An Eyesore That Needed To Be Fixed
An eyesore, now fixed
Having been born and raised in this city, I remember the derelict bridge tress in the middle of the river that needed to be repaired or removed for many years. Sticking out of the water with spray paint and re-bar sticking out, it was an eye sore that had no purpose. It left a gap for businesses and people living at that end of the downtown core. I’ve often thought that something needed to be done and I’m excited to see that the city has chosen to do something special and unique to revitalize this portion of Cambridge.
We started this blog and social media platform as a way to promote what is good in our city. We have chosen to stay and raise our family here because of all the fantastic parks and the future vision that is to come. This bridge is part of the progress, as is the Gaslight District, as is 135 George Street, as is Milestone Integrated Marketing moving their business into the old Right House building at the corner of Main and Ainslie. These are all positive steps toward revitalizing Downtown Galt – steps that simply weren’t happening 5-10 years ago.
A Positive Reception
One thing we’ve found with sharing photos of the new bridge is the reception we received. The Instagram and Twitter posts after a week are now the most popular content we’ve ever shared through our social media channels. We’ve had some popular content we’ve released over the last year, so that definitely is saying something.
Our takeaway from this is that there’s lots of positive interest in this new bridge from regular citizens, businesses and organizations. There’s a general sentiment locally that Downtown Galt is picturesque and iconic. In our view, this project really only adds to that and the early returns on the construction only reinforce that fact.
Not all Feedback was Positive
On the other side of things, we’ve had quite a few negative comments directed our way on Facebook about the bridge. I encourage people who disagree with certain developments to make their opinions known to the decision makers in Cambridge. Talk to your City Councillors and the Mayor. Express your concerns to those in power, write a letter to the editor or even better, run for office in the next election and be part of the process. As we’ve seen with the Multiplex, your voice can and will be heard if people come out in numbers.
While we understand that some may not agree with the pedestrian project, this is a battle that was lost 2+ years ago. There certainly were a lot dissenting opinions on the pedestrian bridge when it was first tabled, but at the end of the day the project is nearly complete and it looks great.
Was the bridge a necessity? Probably not.
Is it something that adds to the charm of Downtown? Most definitely.
The statistics regarding the number of positive impressions on our pictures for this project don’t lie. Many Cambridge residents are looking forward to exploring the Grand River from a vantage point we haven’t been able to before. We look forward to taking our first steps out over the water, looking south to the Cedar Street bridge and north to Main Street and beyond. We want to explore the circular central viewing area and share the view with our neighbours and our friends.
Looking forward to meeting you in the middle!
Wonderful post Corina!