Johnson Street Bridge Victoria BC

“Cool” Feature of New Bridge Eliminated

Engineers have cut one of the much-heralded features of the new Johnson Street Bridge — allowing pedestrians to walk through its “open wheel” mechanism as the lift span goes up — to compensate for structural weaknesses in the bridge’s original design. Read more HERE.

Enjoy the view: it now costs $15.8 million more

A New Estimate for the New Bridge: $92.8 Million

On March 15, Victoria councillors reluctantly approved a staff recommendation increasing the budget for the new Johnson Street Bridge to $92.8 million, up $15.8 million from the $77 million calculated in June 2010. Download the staff report HERE, then go to our page HERE and tell us what you think of it.

City “Explanation” for Fire Hall Report Delay, and our Reply

Last October, we sent a letter to Victoria’s councillors, expressing concern about delays by City staff in releasing safety assessments of public facilities — including a 19-month delay in showing council a March 2010 report identifying the seismic vulnerabilities of Fire Hall #1.

Recently, we got a copy of the memo that the City’s director of engineering wrote to Victoria’s mayor and council, explaining the delay. The reason? “Administration determined it was preferred to have the [fire hall] matter submitted to City Council along with the Crystal Pool and Fitness Centre assessment at the same time.”

Who determined that this was “preferred”, and why? What does the Crystal Pool have to do with a critical piece of public-safety infrastructure like the fire hall? And why is staff permitted to withhold such reports from council in the first place?

In 2010 the City conducted surveys and a referendum on the fate of the Johnson Street Bridge. If the fire hall report had been promptly released, council and the public would have been better aware that the bridge was not the only piece of public-safety infrastructure needing a costly seismic upgrade. Therefore, it is important that the mayor determine exactly why staff “preferred” to retain the report.

Read the staff memo HERE — and let councillors know that you want answers.

The Key Bridge Reports

Delcan’s April 2009 Johnson Street Bridge Condition Assessment estimating rehabilitation and seismic upgrades to the 1924-built bridge for $23.6 million
Commonwealth Historic Resource Management’s April 2009 Heritage Assessment of the Johnson Street Bridge identifying the 1924 bridge as a “very significant heritage landmark”
MMM Group’s June 2010 Replacement and Rehabilitation Options presentation, increasing rehabilitation estimates to $80 million and replacement to $77 million
Advicas Group’s June 2010 Class “C” Estimates detailing the increased replacement and rehabilitation costs
Ipsos-Reid’s August 2010 Business and Residential Survey Results on the proposed rehabilitation and replacement options

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About johnsonstreetbridge.ORG

Created by Mat Wright, Ross Crockford, and Yule Heibel, this website about Victoria’s Johnson Street Bridge exists to provide a platform for independent information – and further discussion with you.

Although we hold a variety of views on what should happen with the bridge, the three of us came together because of shared convictions:

that the City of Victoria’s political process to replace the bridge is seriously flawed;
that there are alternatives to this process;
that Victorians deserve much more of a say about the process for a project of this scope.

The current estimate for replacing the Johnson Street Bridge is $63 million ~~$77 million~~ $92.8 million. But numbers are only the beginning.

There is much more at stake. We hope that you will explore this site, to learn how you can inform yourself and make your voice heard.

We blog (and invite you to leave comments, please); we have a culture page, a media page, a poll where we invite you to vote, and a newsletter to which we invite you to subscribe. And we have lots of additional links from other websites for you to explore. Welcome, and click on!

How to Get Informed and Involved

Subscribe to our email updates, to get the latest bridge news, instantly and every time it is published on this website. See “Blue Bridge News!” on the left sidebar to sign up.

Contact Us with your comments, opinions and suggestions. We welcome your feedback.

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