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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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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If there’s any upside to the FOCUS affair, it’s that reporters are starting to pay attention to the Johnson Street Bridge Steering Committee — a panel of City staff that makes crucial decisions about the bridge project, yet repeatedly neglects to report them to our elected councillors. On September 12, 2011, the Steering Committee knew the bridge’s “wheel” design had to change completely, and that budget estimates were being revised. But they didn’t tell councillors for another six months. [...]
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As you’ve likely heard, the City of Victoria has filed an application to limit the ability of FOCUS magazine and johnsonstreetbridge.org to make Freedom of Information requests for City documents. What hasn’t received much attention is that the City’s application goes even further, and seeks an order against FOCUS, jsb.org, and “any persons acting on their behalf”. In other words, the City wants the power to limit FOI requests from anyone it believes to be part of a shadowy conspiracy “to interfere with and discredit” the bridge project. Anyone. This could mean you. [...]
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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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The City has extended the deadline for construction bids on the new bridge to September 10, so the companies have more time to shave their prices. It’s good that the City is trying to reduce the impact on taxpayers. But the extension compresses the amount of time council will have to sign a contract or look for alternatives. It also suggests that some or all of the bids are still above the City’s “affordability ceiling” of $66.1 million for construction — adding more fuel to the fire of recent concern that the project cost is about to increase again. [...]
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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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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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