First shipment of steel for new Johnson Street Bridge to arrive in Victoria Tuesday evening

CHEK

The steel for the Johnson Street Bridge arrives in Victoria on Aug. 22.

 

WATCH: On Tuesday, the City of Victoria was ready to mark a milestone – the arrival of a shipment of steel that will become part of the new Johnson Street Bridge. Calvin To has more.

The first shipment of steel for the new Johnson Street bridge will arrive at the Point Hope Shipyard on Tuesday evening, two days after it first arrived in the province.

The pieces included in the shipment are the north and south rings, the lower counterweight and the temporary structure (false work) that will support various components of the bridge during installation.

The steel was transported from China across the Pacific Ocean to North Vancouver. It was then loaded onto a crane barge and transported to Victoria’s upper harbour.

PCL, the general contractor for the bridge project, will clean and inspect the steel pieces for any possible damage that may have occurred when the steel was shipped from China. The south ring has been painted, while the north ring only has a primer coating and will be painted in Victoria by a local company.

The span support segments that will connect the bridge’s steel rings with the bridge’s mechanical components were shipped from China in late July and are expected to arrive in Victoria this week.

The crane barge will remain in the upper harbour to unload pieces of steel in different locations until Saturday. It will first unload the steel rings and transfer the steel installation false work to barges at the northern end of the Point Hope Shipyard. On Saturday, a full marine channel will be closed as the crane barge unloads the false work and some machinery pieces into the bascule pier.

The work is expected start at 7 a.m. and will take approximately six hours. The marine channel under the current bridge will be closed to all marine traffic but the current bridge will be open for vehicle traffic.

More work will be done over the coming months. The City of Victoria said there will be more marine channel closures as well as vehicle and pedestrian traffic closures on the current bridge.

The second steel shipment was loaded onto a ship in China on Monday. It is expected to arrive in Victoria at the end of September. The new Johnson Street Bridge is set to open in March 2018, nearly three years behind schedule.

The AAL Kembla docked at Lynnterm Terminal in North Vancouver as unloading of the first steel shipment begins. Courtesy of the City of Victoria.

Alexa HuffmanAlexa Huffman

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