Is Lubbock’s New Love Lock Bridge Here to Stay?

Since the beginning of time people have always fallen in love and wanted to show off that love somehow. Whether it was by cave painting, painting a portrait, and even etching your initials into a tree but recently one Lubbock area is seeing a lot more love.

A bridge, located near 50th Street and I-27, that regularly sees a lot of foot traffic as it allows people to cross from one side to the other and with a chain link fence has had some unexpected items on it. Recently locks have been appearing on the bridge with names or initials on them but they aren't an art installation or some type of way to deface the chain links. These locks are actually a gesture of love, well a type of gesture of love.

On the locks the names or initials signify the relationship of two people in love and then they lock their love by putting on the bridge. This love lock bridge is not a new idea as there are actually quite a few love lock bridges across the world with one of the most popular being in Paris, France. We did reach out to the Texas Department of Transportation to ask if the locks were allowed or if they planned to cut them off due to other countries occasionally cutting off the locks routinely because of weight.

As per the publishing of this article it's not known whether the locks will be allowed to stay as they accumulate. It's also not legal for anyone to hang any kind of signs from overpasses due to them being a distraction so if the fence was to become filled with locks there is no telling if they would be a distraction.

Update: The Texas Department of Transportation did respond and let us know that they were aware that people were placing the locks on the bridge for years now. In response the maintenance crews have always removed the locks along with any graffiti and trash. The Texas Department of Transportation also stated that if the locks were allowed to accumulate that over time they could become a danger to pedestrians and the drivers below. That could be due to the locks or keys falling off the bridge and striking a car which could cause some damage from that height, and the potential to cause a crash.