Johnson Street Bridge Victoria BC Canada This website is one step of an awareness campaign. We are Victoria and Capital Region residents who believe the fate of the Johnson Street Bridge is an issue of vital importance, affecting our city's transportation systems, finances, and governance. Our goal is to provide a central information platform, with news and opinion from all sources, so citizens can make informed decisions about how to proceed with the most expensive infrastructure project in Victoria's history.
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This week, the City of Victoria revealed some of the details in its new contract with PCL Contractors Westcoast (PCL) to build a new Johnson Street Bridge. The good news is that the $63.2-million deal is within the City’s budget, and PCL has fixed several problems with the bridge’s experimental lift mechanism. But a lot of steel has been replaced with concrete, and the design is “boxier” than before. The price tag also doesn’t cover unforeseen geotechnical issues, changing steel quantities, utility relocations, some redesign costs or a new retaining wall — and the steel bascule span will be built abroad, diminishing claims that the project will generate hundreds of local jobs. [...]
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On Monday, December 31, Victoria Council will hold a closed meeting to discuss a contract to build the new Johnson Street Bridge. Council must review this document in detail, and not be pressured to approve it without absolute certainty that it meets all of the City’s needs, and satisfies the promises that the City made leading up to the 2010 referendum to borrow $49.2 million. In particular, the City promised that there would be a “0% tax increase” associated with the bridge, and that it would be built to a maximum (8.5) seismic standard. It promised that the bridge would have a 100-year design life — a promise that only will be fulfilled if the contractor resolves previously-identified problems with the bridge’s unique lift mechanism, such its exposed machinery, and uncertain operation in unusual weather conditions. The City also promised that the bridge would be economical to maintain, and that the project budget would include amenities such as pathways, and public spaces. Council must ensure that the contract with PCL satisfies the promises that the City made to the public in 2010. [...]
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The City of Victoria recently altered its Request For Proposals to allow the bidding companies take over design of the new Johnson Street Bridge. To meet the terms of the 2010 referendum, they will have to build a bridge “generally in accordance” with plans on file at City Hall. But is building a facsimile of the original design a good idea? Maybe not. Judging by examples from Florida, if the three companies were given complete freedom to design a bridge that met the City’s transportation needs, they could build it for $45 to $55 million — 20 to 30 percent less than the $66 million budgeted for constructing the experimental Johnson Street Bridge. [...]
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Recently the City of Victoria issued a revised Request For Proposals (RFP) to the three companies bidding on the project — and the new document increases risks to taxpayers, and may produce a bridge different from the one shown in pre-referendum advertising. In Section 4.3(c) of the original RFP, the companies had to submit a fixed price to build the bridge. Now they may submit a “not to exceed” price, which the City can try to negotiate down to a fixed price later on. In Section 4.3(a) of the original RFP, the companies could only propose “optimizations” to the bridge architecture. Now, a new provision — Section 4.5, Design Build — lets the companies assume “technical design responsibility for the complete project,” and have their own engineers design the bridge. [...]
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Back in March, Victorians learned that the always-open pathway through the big wheels of the new Johnson Street Bridge was cut from the design. However, it seems many are still unaware that the architects had to radically change the bridge’s entire lift mechanism after the 2010 referendum — and that the unusual mechanism will likely increase the project’s final cost and future maintenance. Are we buying a piece of transportation infrastructure, or a giant moving sculpture? [...]
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Monday, June 25, 2012 — Today at 12 noon, the three companies in the running to build the new Johnson Street Bridge submitted their “indicative prices” to Victoria’s City Hall, providing the first independent estimates of how much the project will really cost. And if the numbers are far higher than the City expects, Victoria’s councillors could change the project, or scrap it altogether. [...]
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As Victoria News first reported on June 15, Mike Lai, the manager of the Johnson Street Bridge replacement project, will be leaving the City of Victoria on July 6 to go back to his old job as manager of transportation at the District of Saanich.
Lai joined the City in the summer of 2008, when [...]
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On March 15, 2012, Victoria’s council reluctantly approved a $15.8-million increase for the Johnson Street Bridge project, raising its budget to $92.8 million. Modern Democracy recorded the proceedings, which are worth watching to hear the statements of the engineers — and see how our elected officials react when they’re suddenly forced to spend a sum [...]
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Recently, mayor Dean Fortin and director of engineering Dwayne Kalynchuk said councillors were told at a February meeting about design changes to the Johnson Street Bridge. Their claims are false. As you can see in these videos, engineers said nothing about the need to gate off the open-wheel mechanism. [...]
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Engineers have eliminated one of the much-heralded features of the new Johnson Street Bridge — allowing pedestrians to walk through its “open wheel” mechanism as the span goes up — to compensate for weaknesses in the bridge’s original design. [...]
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