When Victoria city council voted in 2009 to replace the Johnson Street Bridge, some critics complained that the cost was too high. Victorians can only look back and sigh longingly for the good old days when you could get a new bridge for $63 million.
Some critics of replacing the bridge gloomily predicted then that the tally would be closer to $100 million. It turns out they were right.
The $63-million price tag didn鈥檛 last long. Before the 2011 election, the cost had risen to $77 million, and after the election, it went to $92.8 million.
In June 2014, the contractor said more time and money would be needed to complete the bridge, and that issue is still to be settled. In July 2014, significant flaws were found in the steel that had been fabricated in China. Steel fabrication has resumed, but the problems with steel have caused significant delays.
Now city staff are recommending that council increase the project鈥檚 budget by $4.8 million to cover increased costs and to increase the contingency fund. That would bring the total to $97.6 million, but it could go higher if costs are awarded in mediation on overruns.
When the new bridge was proposed, opposition was strong and vocal, and johnsonstreetbridge.org, a watchdog group, successfully led a petition drive that forced a referendum in November 2010, with 60.6 per cent voting Yes and 39.4 per cent voting No.
Some critics were opposed to replacing the bridge because they thought it should be preserved as part of Victoria鈥檚 heritage. Others believed refurbishment would have been less expensive than replacement, and at one time, estimates indicated it would be cheaper to fix up the old bridge than build a new one.
Initially, the estimated cost for refurbishment was about $34 million, but by mid-2010, that estimate had nearly tripled to $103 million.
One expert said replacement at any cost was not an option. Engineer Ramsay Murray, who had done detailed inspections of the bridge on two occasions, said the bridge was beyond affordable repair.
鈥淔rom my experience with many other steel bridges, I believe that the structure has passed the point of economical repair and that conditions would be encountered which require greater time to repair than anticipated,鈥� Murray wrote in a 2010 Times 91原创 commentary.
The new bridge鈥檚 design, too, has come under fire as being too expensive.
In March 2012, when city council voted, albeit reluctantly, to increase the cost of the project by $15.8 million to $92.8 million, Coun. Ben Isitt was opposed. He said the city should abandon its custom design and go for an off-the-shelf design.
It鈥檚 easy to look back and say council should have taken one course or another, but who鈥檚 to say a different path would not have encountered as many problems? And doing nothing was not an option.
The city has put too much into the project to turn back now or take a radically different course. It must see the project through, while taking every precaution possible to control costs without sacrificing safety and quality.
The new bridge is a vital regional transportation link. Furthermore, it promises to be a signature piece of architecture for the Inner Harbour. (At that price, it had better be.)
Critics seemed pessimistic when they predicted replacing the new bridge would cost $100 million. Now that figure is beginning to seem optimistic.
