Update: The Craigflower Bridge is now open to traffic.
Saanich Mayor Frank Leonard said the long-awaited new Craigflower Bridge will open today at about 2 p.m.
Leonard tweeted early Friday that the outstanding sealing and expansion plates have been completed and the crane has been removed.
There will be some work done on the sidewalk and other minor work completed today before the 2 p.m. opening.
There were four outstanding items that needed to be completed or fall into place for today’s opening. That work has now been done. The municipality also needed the cooperation of the weather, and that, too, has fallen into place.
The 80-year-old timber beam bridge was closed in April 2013 so the $15.8-million replacement could be built.
View Royal, Saanich’s partner in the bridge project, was so excited about the project’s pending completion that it held a ribbon-cutting last weekend.
No ribbon-cutting is planned for today, Leonard said earlier this week, adding he doesn’t want to hold up anyone with a ceremony.
“I’m going to be officially on the side of the road breathing a sigh of relief,” he said. “A lot of people have been inconvenienced for a long time. I’ll fully admit they were inconvenienced longer than what we initially said they would be.”
Leonard said the bridge’s closing had an impact beyond people in cars. “Residents who have had traffic they are not normally used to have been adversely affected. Tillicum Road has just been awful all the way up to Carey Road.”
The bridge tender was for $15.8 million, with related costs pushing the total budget to about $16.8 million. The bulk of the money, $10.8 million, comes from gas-tax revenues while Saanich and View Royal are each contributing $2.5 million. About $1 million comes from ICBC, B.C. Hydro and other sources.
The two municipalities had offered a $300,000 incentive if the contractor, Don Mann Excavating, had been able to complete the project in eight months. Difficulty obtaining steel meant that target couldn’t be met.
