Love never fails, but for the Pont des Arts bridge in Paris, it's beginning to fall.
The bridge grew into a famed tourist attraction over the past years. The whole gimmick is, your partner and yourself lock a padlock onto the fencing of the bridge and then throw the key into the river, symbolizing the undying love. But sometimes, love is destructive, as both sides of the bridge are now suffocated by steel.
The bridge lost a section of its fencing, buckling under the weight of love. Authorities were immediately called onto the scene to close off the bridge for safety purposes. Luckily, the section of the fence fell inward onto the bridge and not into the river.
"If it had landed on a passing boat, the results could have been disastrous," a French police spokesperson said, Mail Online reports. "As it happened, nobody was injured."
Anti-love lock campaigns had already been growing throughout the city. Not only is the Pont des Arts bridge smothered, but tourists are beginning to apply the practice to Paris' other bridges.
"It's kind of mania. It's not about romance anymore - it's just about saying 'I did it'," Lisa Anselmo says, a cofounder of one such campaign, Mail Online reported.
According to Fox News, Paris deputy mayor Bruno Julliard was already taking suggestions from artists on what to do with the love locks when they do in the bridge. Officials also hope to persuade less vandalistic means of expressing affection. One of the floating ideas: ribbons.
That's just not as cool.