Johnson Street Bridge steel fabrication in China has fallen about a month behind schedule, project director Jonathan Huggett says in a report to councillors.
But the lost time should be recoverable, Huggett says, meaning that in 12 months, people should be crossing over the new span.
“If Jonathan Huggett says they are going to recover it, then they are going to recover it,” Mayor Lisa Helps said. “If they don’t, they are going to have a pretty stiff-faced council to present to get any extension on the timeline. We said the end of 2017 was firm, and that’s what we expect.”
The schedule is for the bridge to be open for traffic by Dec. 31, 2017, with project completion by March 2018. The first shipment of steel is scheduled to arrive in Victoria in July next year.
Steel fabrication is continuing at two locations in China, Huggett says in his report.
The main bridge structures, including the falsework needed to support all of the steel that is being erected here, are being built by Jiangsu Zhongtai Steel Structure Co. Ltd. (ZTSS) at JingJiang near Shanghai. The span-support structures that connect the main bridge to the machinery that moves the bridge are being fabricated by QuayQuip in Tianjin.
Huggett says that while much of the fabrication of the main bridge structure is nearing completion at ZTSS, the next key stages are the fit-up of all the components. The fitting of the north ring of the lifting mechanism to the north truss took considerably longer than expected, pushing the fabrication a month behind schedule.
“ZTSS will be able to learn from the experience of the north side when repeating the fit-up for the south side. There is still 12 months until the opening of the bridge, and PCL [the project contractor] and ZTSS are working to recover the schedule slippage,” Huggett’s report says.
Steel fabrication for the bridge has been problematic from the outset. Fabrication was halted in July 2014 after inspections found the steel was not being built to design, and there were significant flaws, including defective welds. Months worth of steel was rejected. The city demanded and got improved oversight.
In May, council approved $8.2 million in additional funding for the project, bringing the total to $105.06 million.
Still to be costed into the project are the cost of fendering — bumpers to prevent vessels from hitting the structure — for the bridge’s north pier, which was not included in the project budget, and landscaping improvements to the public areas.
Conceptual design for fendering is underway, and final cost estimates are being developed.
When the project was approved in 2009, the new lift bridge was forecast to cost $63 million and be operating by Sept. 30, 2015.
