(CNN)Baby, it's over. The city of Paris will start removing padlocks from the Pont des Arts on Monday, effectively ending the tourist tradition of attaching "love locks" to the historic bridge. Visitors have been attaching locks with sentimental messages to the pedestrian walkway since 2008 in symbolic acts of affection. Some people further seal the deal by throwing keys into the Seine River below. The bridge carries more than 700,000 locks with an estimated combined weight roughly the same as 20 elephants standing on a bridge designed for pedestrian traffic. Considered charming at first, the thrill wore off as sections of fencing on the Pont des Arts crumbled under the locks' weight. The phenomenon spread to other bridges, creating two major concerns for the city: "degradation of property heritage and a risk to the safety of visitors, Parisians and tourists," the Paris City Council said on its website. Graffiti, pickpockets and vend