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The bridge has provoked its share of controversies, including concerns about the bridge's accessibility to locals and tourists in wheelchairs. (The city has promised to install "egg-shaped lifts" for the disabled, but whether they'll be more reliable than Venice's existing platform lifts is unknown.)

The bridge was meant to be very solemnly inaugurated on Sept. 18, 2008, with the President of the Italian Republic attending. However, this ceremony was cancelled due to the protests of associations of people with disabilities, in particular of the Un ponte per tutti petition, because the bridge violates national accessibility norms, as it includes glass-covered stairs that exclude people in wheelchairs.

Finally, the absence of accommodation for persons with disabilities has been falsely attributed to Santiago Calatrava's supposed desire for a more pure design. This is simply not true. A number of designs were proposed that would have accommodated the needs of persons with disabilities. The decision to eliminate these accessibility options was made by the Comune di Venezia, which considered its existing system of transport for persons with disabilities to be entirely adequate, requiring that no special provisions for access were needed on this bridge.

An on-line petition called "a bridge for everyone" organized by Roberto Scano, an Italian accessibility expert, urges the postponement of the inauguration of the bridge until the structure will be accessible by all citizens. Mr. Scano remarks: "How can the Government inaugurate a publicly funded structure that does not allow the possibility for everyone to use? As it stands now the bridge is limp."