The City of Victoria will not pay any more for Johnson Street Bridge budget overruns until it is satisfied the steel being fabricated in China is up to snuff.
It will also demand contractor PCL Constructors take steps to ensure the bridge is completed in 2017.
“We’re not going to keep throwing money at a project that’s going to keep coming back with welding problems. Or with, ‘Is this bar loose or not loose?’ ” Mayor Lisa Helps told reporters Thursday.
“Council and the public need confidence that when this structure shows up in our harbour, it’s going to go up and down, it’s not going to crack and it’s going to last for the 75 years that we’ve paid for,” she said.
Helps made her comments after project director Jonathan Huggett said there are still problems with steel produced at the Jiangsu Zhongtai Steel Structure plant.
With those problems continuing, PCL projected bridge completion would be delayed to 2018 — something Huggett said is unacceptable.
Councillors agreed to Huggett’s recommendation that the city deduct $1 million from a proposed $2.253-million progress payment to PCL, compensating for city costs due to delays.
They also postponed increasing the project budget by the remaining $1.253 million until they hear in person from Keith Greising, engineer of record for PCL’s sub-consultant Hardesty Hanover, as to the quality of steel being produced and the quality- assurance measures.
Huggett said he has told PCL the city will not accept a schedule that runs into 2018.
“I’ve advised PCL that I will sign off on no more progress payments on this project until they present me with a schedule that shows this bridge being completed in 2017,” Huggett said.
“Obviously, I can’t recover a schedule that is years out of date. But what I can do is say: ‘Enough is enough and we will not pay any more money until you do something about this schedule.’ ”
Jiangsu began steel fabrication of main bridge trusses and a large ring rotating mechanism in March 2014. In early July 2014, the city received messages from Atema, PCL’s quality-control subcontractor, saying its test results did not match the Chinese company’s results.
Ultimately, all steel was rejected and new quality controls were put in place.
Huggett said “significant” issues remain with steel fabrication.
Inspectors continue to find faulty welds. Seventy-five cracked welds were discovered on the steel deck surface. The cracks were repaired but their cause is undetermined, he said.
A faulty weld inside the bridge’s south truss means a fabrication team had to take measures to determine the extent of the problem. Drill holes will have to be made for a scope inspection of welds inside the truss. Access holes may have to be cut to make repairs.
Welds may have to be removed and a backing bar replaced on the bridge’s large south lift ring because a large piece of steel that is supposed to be mounted inside the ring doesn’t fit.
Helps said: “Mr. Huggett has raised significant concerns for me in his report and in his presentation this morning that I am not prepared as mayor of this city and chair of this council to put one more dollar toward this project until we have Mr. Greising here sitting in front of us so we can assure ourselves and the public that we are paying for a product that’s going to show up here and work.”
Delaying approval of the budget increase does not stop the project, Helps said.
Coun. Ben Isitt, who called the situation “a disaster,” wondered whether the design could be abandoned in favour of a more standard-design lift bridge.
Huggett said that given contracts and work done, abandonment would not be wise.
Coun. Jeremy Loveday said neither further delays nor increased costs are acceptable.
“It is very easy for residents to feel that this is out of control. It’s our job to get it back into control, and I think sending a strong, clear message to PCL is the right way to do that.”
When approved by the previous council in 2009, the lift bridge was forecast to cost $63 million and be operating by Sept. 30, 2015.
If the $1.253-million increase to the budget is ultimately approved, the new estimated completion cost would be $98.1 million.
