Perhaps the biggest Peace Bridge fan in Calgary has taken it upon himself to design a T-shirt honouring the red span Calgarians love to hate.

Rick Thomas created a wearable testament to his appreciation for the controversial but striking infrastructure, which could be a popular uniform for fellow bridge supporters next month. An aide in Ald. Druh Farrel's office sent out scores of emails to architects, civic activists and former aldermen, encouraging them to buy a shirt and wear it to the bridge's opening on March 24, reports the Calgary Herald.

From the Herald:

The Killarney resident and avid pedestrian said he wanted a shirt that makes a statement of pride for the much-maligned bridge.

The black T-shirts will name Calgary alongside various other cities with Santiago Calatrava bridges, such as Jerusalem, Dublin and Barcelona, as well as images of those bridges.

“Calgary joins an international cadre of cities that have sought to enliven the public space with engaging and noteworthy architecture,” Thomas said.

While the Peace Bridge is an undeniably interesting addition to Calgary's skyline, it's been touted as a sight to "put Calgary on the map" (says Dave Smith, of the Calgary Construction Association) and Tourism Calgary is preparing to poll out-of-towners to learn whether they were drawn to visit the bridge.

Surely we can already predict the response to that poll. Many visitors will come across the Peace Bridge while they're in town, walking the pathway system for example, but will it be a destination on their itinerary? Unless they're architects, civic planners, or National Geographic photographers, I'd guess not.

In that vein, we decided to mock-up our own Peace Bridge T-shirt design, featuring the bridge-hunting Romeo, Robert Kincaid of The Bridges of Madison County. For those unfamiliar with the flick, Kincaid (Clint Eastwood) is a National Geographic photographer on an assignment to photograph a bridge. He stops at Francesca Johnson's home to ask for directions to the bridge, and that leads to a whirlwind romance between the two of them.

In our re-imagined version of the film, Francesca and Robert have made their merry way to the Peace Bridge for a few photos. (Click image to view larger in a new tab.)

Want to join in the T-shirt-designing fun? Download our T-shirt template and a rendering of the Peace Bridge from the city or use the one we did. Tweet us your images to @OpenFileCGY, post them on our Facebook wall or email them.

We'll post our favourites in time for the bridge opening March 24.

Update: As for the shirt from Rick Thomas, BikeBike Bike Shop brought the design to our attention via Facebook. Click the image for details on how to order it.