Bright colors, tightly-clasped and meant to symbolize unbreakable bonds of love have started to adorn one of the more recent pieces of the Oklahoma City skyline.
These so-called “love locks” are padlocks that are locked onto the rails and sides of Skydance Bridge which runs over I-40 in Oklahoma City. The locks symbolize a couple’s love for one another and how they will always stay “locked” together. On the locks you can usually find the dates of when the couple came together.
“Love locks” have become popular features in many cities, but the ones on the Skydance Bridge are starting to cause more worry than wonder for Oklahoma City. The city is concerned about the placement of the locks because they could drop onto passing cars below the bridge.
“Some of the locks have been placed high on the bridge structure, above the guardrails, which required the individual placing the lock to be in an unsafe position and could fall onto the roadway below,” Shannon Cox, the public information officer for the Oklahoma City Public Works department, said.
Cox said while the “love locks” are not an immediate safety issue now, the city is concerned that more locks could add enough weight to the bridge. Which would mean they would have to be removed. However, removing the locks poses the same safety risk as placing them. Simply cutting them off could cause the locks to fall onto anyone driving along I-40.
So what’s the solution?
The city is looking to create a new space to accommodate the “love locks” that are on the bridge, and any future locks, which would keep both people and cars safe.
