St. Patrick's pedestrian bridge opens in Calgary

The newest pedestrian bridge across the Bow River in central Calgary opened Monday.

St. Patrick's bridge links the East Village on the south bank of the river to St. Patrick's Island and the Bridgeland-Riverside neighbourhood on the north bank.

The completion of the bridge was delayed by a year because the flood waters of 2013 tore the bridge deck off thestructure.

At the opening ceremony, Elder Clarence Wolf Leg of the Blackfoot Nationperformed a tobacco smudge blessing and prayer.

Mayor Naheed Nenshi then led a procession across the bridge to officially open the span to the public. In hisremarks he thanked those who completedthe bridge after the flood waters undid much of the work.

"Those hard-working men and women came right back and rebuilt this thing," he said."Your labour and hard work and your sweat and your strength has built something Calgarians will enjoy forever."

The bridge is part of a$45-million project to restore St. Patrick's Island park. The park is scheduledto reopen in the summer of 2015.