View Royal and Saanich engineering staff will meet with their contractor today to determine the construction schedule for the Craigflower Bridge replacement, including when the bridge will close to vehicle traffic.
A traffic plan and timeline will be discussed during the first meeting of the project’s management team and contractor, Saanich Mayor Frank Leonard said Monday.
“They’re even getting into how they can rebuild an oyster bed,” he said.
Don Mann Excavating Ltd. was awarded the contract last month to replace the 80-year-old timber-beam bridge at a cost of $15.89 million — about $2.2 million more than anticipated. The old bridge is to be replaced by a three-lane structure complete with bike lanes and pedestrian access.
Under the terms of the contract, the excavating company will take over the bridge from April 1 to Dec. 31. A temporary foot bridge will be built to provide pedestrian and cycling access during construction.
The closure is still targeted for mid-April, said View Royal Mayor Graham Hill. “They’re still working on the details of the pedestrian crossing, so that’s a work in progress.”
Under the agreement signed by the two municipalities, the bridge work will cost $13.2 million.
Saanich also agreed to reconstruct Admirals Road north of Gorge Road at a cost of about $2 million.
The project involves relocation of Olympia oysters that lie on the seabed and cling to the pilings. Last year, divers surveying under the bridge discovered a 20-centimetre layer of the small oysters, which are native to B.C. but rarely found in the wild due to overharvesting in the 19th and 20th centuries.
The concrete pilings of the new bridge will be corrugated, so a new crop of oysters can find a home there.
Closing the bridge is expected to affect travelling times for West Shore commuters and businesses, especially those in View Royal that are dependent on drive-by traffic.
