Lake users have been concerned about the effect it would have on wind on the lake and the hazard that the bridge's pylons would create. Other opponents have included the Walter Burley Griffin Society and the ACT National Trust, while letter writers to The Canberra Times have variously referred to the bridge as ''junk architecture'' and ''a white elephant''.

Yet there is a large but mostly silent constituency obviously also in favour of the bridge. Despite the hurdles ahead and uncertainty over whether the project will even proceed, 7000 people have already paid the $110 fee for a place on the handrail, 3000 of whom are from Canberra. The bridge proponents hope to sell 200,000 places on the handrail to help fund the bridge, detailing each person's name and country of origin. Immigration Bridge Australia campaign director Andrew Baulch says in addition, 2000 people have submitted stories to the ''migration book'' on the project's website.

''About 150,000 people have visited the website to read the stories in the last three months alone, and the program is a becoming a huge success for writers and readers, and will be appreciated by generations to come,'' he says.

Three people shared with The Sunday Canberra Times their reasons for wanting to be part of the Immigration Bridge.

For more, pick up a copy of today's Canberra Times