Johnson Street Bridge reopens ahead of schedule

Work progresses on pedestrian, cyclist connection to replacement span

Motorists caught a break Saturday when a scheduled closure of the Johnson Street Bridge ended about six hours early.

The vital link between downtown and Victoria West closed to motor-vehicle traffic at 6 p.m. Friday and was set to stay that way until 6 p.m. Saturday.

“They were done by about noon,” said city spokeswoman Rebecca Penz.

Fraser Work, the city’s director of engineering, said he was happy to see the job completed ahead of time so that traffic tie-ups could ease. The Bay Street Bridge was especially busy, as expected, during the closure.

“We notified fire and emergency services as soon as we got the bridge open, and then the traffic started to flow quite well.”

The bridge was closed to allow the installation of a prefabricated span — 34 metres long and five metres wide — for pedestrians and cyclists as part of the overall Johnson Street Bridge project. The steel span goes over Esquimalt Road, near Harbour Road and the Delta Ocean Pointe Resort.

Pedestrians and cyclists were allowed to use the Johnson Street Bridge while the work was going on, and marine traffic was not affected.

There was always the chance the job could take less time than planned, Work said.

“When they did the schedule up, they looked at the best-case scenario and they looked at possible complications,” he said.

“We gave ourselves a little bit of wiggle room in case we had adjustments and [it] didn’t go as smoothly as it did.”

The new addition will be used by pedestrians and cyclists to get on and off the Johnson Street Bridge.

The Johnson Street Bridge project has had a number of delays and is expected to be completed in early 2018 at a cost of at least $105 million.

The concrete foundation for the bridge is being built this summer.

Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps praised the early opening.

“If this is any indication of things to come, I think it’s a very good indication,” she said.