A city bridge building nightmare: Replacing the City of Victoria’s older Blue Bridge across a short span of water by the Inner Harbour with a monstrous newly designed bridge, whose design had started in 2009 and over time resulted in numerous design flaws and serious construction problems. Not to mention the number of design consultants, engineers and other assorted groups contributing to this project and making a killing of income (through the City and its tax paying residents), without to date not having accomplished an acceptable, simple, safe and correctly engineered design.

A warning sign should have gone up when the major structural steel parts of this bridge (the two large rings supposed to lift the bridge deck) had been farmed out to be constructed in China with Chinese steel. In all these years this bridge building project has been going on, I never really noticed anything that questions the reason why these two major steel parts of Victoria’s bridge had to be built in China. To save money ? After already excessive millions had been spent on this project for design, consulting and (doing exactly what?), but not accomplishing much. Here is an interesting article regarding construction quality in China, written by a Chinese.  [ https://business-humanrights.org/en/china-poor-quality-construction-work-low-standards-lead-to-fatal-building-collapses-says-analyst ]. No wonder that the two large steel rings arriving here in Victoria have major design flaws and already needed patch up repair.

Personally, I would avoid using this bridge once it gets finished. Not only because of design flaws that can lead to collapse even with a high wind, but also because I am certain that this bridge like all construction in Victoria, BC, is not built earth quake proof.

We are in quake country in a highly seismic zone in the Pacific North West. A major quake and resulting tsunami will come. Did any of those early design consultants and engineers even consider to take this into consideration ? Of course not. Once the bridge is in place, those responsible for design, consulting, and building (not least the City itself) will have “left the building” – in other words, like the rats leaving the sinking ship.