A whole lotta lovin’ was cut off the Brooklyn Bridge on Friday and unceremoniously dumped into rolling trash bins.
The NYC Department of Transportation says it has had enough of romantic couples snapping their padlocks of love onto fences, lamps and posts on the pedestrian walkway of the bridge.
Commissioner Polly Trottenberg held a press conference on the bridge in the morning announcing the big breakup, before sending out crews to snip the locks and hang signs warning that anyone found affixing junk to the bridge faces a $100 fine.
DOT had a bit of fun with some of the signs. AP found one that said, “No lock, yes lox,” showing a picture of a bagel and lox. Most, however, sternly warn, “No locks. Fine $100.”
Cities around the world have seen their iconic bridges covered with padlocks by couples who write their names or draw hearts onto the locks.
The heavy locks add stress to the structures and sometimes break them. On Sept. 8, a wire attached to an overhead street light on the bridge snapped under the weight of the dozens of locks that had been attached to it, according to DOT.
In 2015, DOT removed over 11,000 locks from the Brooklyn Bridge, at the cost of $116,000, along with other random items such as hair bands, shoe laces and headphones.
“A walk on the Brooklyn Bridge can be one of the most beautiful and romantic anywhere in the world,” Trottenberg said in a statement. “However, with the bridge now loaded with so-called ‘love locks,’ we face costly maintenance headaches and serious potential dangers for car traffic.”
She added, “Take nothing but selfies, leave nothing but footprints.”
“If we care about preserving this landmark for another 133 years, we will heed DOT’s call and lock hands or lips instead,” Borough President Eric Adams said.
Before noon, a crew snapping off locks had collected close to 600 of them, with much of the bridge still to go.
Trottenberg was joined by senior officials from the NYPD, the Landmarks Preservation Commission and NYC & Company.
