Bridge Report To Be Delivered Soon

Wednesday, August 30, 2006 05:59 PM

Cameron Street Bridge, the day it was closed, Sept 20th, 2005 (opinion250 file photo)

It has been nearly one year since the Cameron Street bridge was closed because of detrioration in two of the bridge’s truss chords.

The final report on the Cameron Street Bridge may be ready for presentation to Prince George City Council September 11th. "That is the date we’re shooting for" says the City’s Transportation Manager, Frank Blues. The final draft is being reviewed and Blues hopes the report will be ready for presentation within two weeks.

The report focuses on the possibility of using some of the existing structure to support a new bridge. The report was done at a cost "not to exceed $190,000".

Can the existing piers be reused in a new structure? It would seem there is a distinct possibility. The report was to be done in stages, so that if using the Cameron Street facility couldn’t pass the first stage, the study would have been stopped at that point. The same applied to the other stages of the report. Unless something was discovered in the final stage of the study that would derail the project, it would appear that using the existing piers is a possibility.

The Cameron Street Bridge was closed September 30th of last year. Since then, there have been concerns raised about the increased traffic, especially large trucks, using 5th Avenue and Carney as a means of getting through the city. There have also been complaints from First Avenue merchants who say loss of the use of the bridge has meant a significant loss in business.

While the Cameron Street bridge was a key issue in the 2005 municipal election, the City’s current Capital Expenditure Plan indicates the earliest construction could start would be in 2008. That is taking into account time needed for design, envrinomental constraints and funding challenges.

A new Nechako River crossing carries a $22.4 million dollar price tag. The City had been hoping to enter into a three way split with the Provincial and Federal governments which each level paying $7.5 million. If the report indicates the existing piers can be reused, there would be dollars saved, however, it is not clear if it would mean there would be savings in construction time.

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Posted on Wednesday, August 30, 2006 05:59 PM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: owl on August 30 2006 7:17 PM

Karnak says "September 20th, 2005"

Karnak lowers the envelope from his turban, opens it up and reads: "When was the Cameron Street bridge closed?"

Much cheering and laughter form the audience.

Posted by: Gofaster on August 30 2006 7:47 PM

Well if they stall a little longer, then it will be too cold, then it will be spring, and can't work due to high water, then it is summer and anyone who works is on holidays, then we will have a study to see why all this is happening and nothing can be done..then maybe a study to see if we really need the study.

ya ya, we know the routine.

Gee maybe if they build it real fast the 2010 Olymipic athletes will come?

Posted by: trusted on August 30 2006 10:34 PM

Yes, opinion 250 News.Change the date under the picture.
It should likely have the year as 2005-not 2006.
Not confusing to locals, but certainly could be to out of area visitors to the site.

Posted by: supertech on August 30 2006 10:39 PM

What I don't understand is that one day it was a good bridge that would hold loaded logging trucks and dump trucks. The very next day it wasn't good enough to hold a honda civic???
They should have held back the large trucks and let the smaller vehicles continue to use the bridge --- because really now -- You can't make me believe it's all that unsafe.

Someone is making a lot of money doing this study and I have yet to see ANYONE looking over the bridge or under it. How long has this study taken?? I studied materials science at UBC and it isn't all that difficult to test the materials on one bridge. Lets see, we have wood, steel and concrete. Am I missing anything? Test the weakest points and the testing is done. If you can't figure out where the weakest points are you shouldn't have the job in the first place.

Posted by: acrider54 on August 31 2006 6:17 AM

supertech, you are using common sense. There is no common sense in this day and age anymore. If it comes from a book then that's the way it must be.

Posted by: diplomat on August 31 2006 7:40 AM

Undoubtably the construction will start not earlier than 2008. It will coincide nicely with the municipal election and it will be the main candy for the Mayor's re-election campaign.

Oh, how gullible we are.

Johnny Carson's Karnak was a riot to watch!

Posted by: davec on August 31 2006 8:04 AM

As part of the engineering firm that did the annual inspections, I can assure you that the bridge really is that unsafe. The bridge has surpassed its expected life, and was in need of a major overhaul in order to just make it one more year, regardless of whether it is a loaded logging truck or a honda civic.

Supertech, maybe you did not see the people on top of the bridge drilling core samples in the piers; but you could certainly walk down it and see where the drillig took place. We are not part of the study, but if it turns out that the piers can be reused, then this will save the city, and you the taxpayers, a lot of money.

Posted by: diplomat on August 31 2006 9:31 AM

>...I can assure you that the bridge really is that unsafe.<

To be on the safe side and for liability reasons the option to keep the bridge open for SOME traffic simply was not an option at all.

However, it appears that this whole bridge issue was assigned the category "Low Priority" by those in charge at City Hall.

The $750,000 temporary repair should have been done to the superstructure and then the engineering studies could have proceeded with the bridge open to traffic as usual.

There are steel fabricators right here in town and the job could have been done by now.

Posted by: Gofaster on August 31 2006 11:24 AM

Replace the wood with metal mesh and all shall be fine until some yoyo with an overload comes along

Posted by: weezerfan on August 31 2006 7:05 PM

From the structural engineering courses I have done at school and a quick analysis of the bridge structure it would appear that a majority of that $750 000 replacement cost would be associated with the shoring up of the structure. Bridges are finicky objects and you can't just replace a piece. In these older structures you remove one piece and the entire thing would fall down. I could probably assume that the actual costs associated with the repair would be less than $50 000, but the shoring and construction of a temporary shoring bridge would be the other $700 000. Lets be thankfull that they are doing this study and hopefully in the end we will get an answer.

Posted by: fedup on August 31 2006 9:37 PM

take it down and fix 5th ave so it can handle the trafic lets get on with our lives here folks.

Posted by: Palopu on August 31 2006 10:47 PM

The $750,000.00 would have repaired the bridge so that it could handle both trucks and cars as it has in the past. You might have had to spend another $500,000. over the next five years in normal maintenance however that it not a big deal.

The fact of the matter is certain politicians and others want this bridge out of circulation so that they can (if possible) access Provincial and Federal money and build a new one. If they cannot get the money then they will build a steel superstructure on the present piers for a cost of approx 7 Million that will come out of Prince George Taxpayers pockets.

We would have to be pretty stupid in the Engineering and intellectual departments if we could not repair this bridge. After all we can land on the moon, go to mars, go to the bottom of the Sea, we can do all sorts of things but it seems we cant repair a wooden bridge.

If this was the only bridge across the Nechako it would have been repaired a year ago. Anyone who thinks differently had better get a head check. This whole bridge fiasco is about politics and contracts, and spending taxpayers money.

If the City has to fund the new bridge, and they have to go to referendum to borrow the money I would hope that their are enough informed Citizens in Prince George to put a stop to this madness.

Whats the chances???

Posted by: Marty on September 1 2006 7:52 AM

Woohoo !
I can still drive on it for almost 3 more weeks.
I plan to use it lots before they close it on the 20th.
As apparently it will be shut down for a long time after that as Kinsley and crew drag their feet.

It should have been closed to anything over 5,500 Kgs....but not smaller vehicles.

But hey, Kinsley needed to get elected somehow, and now its us the "taxpayers" that are .......

( I am sure I am not allowed to write what i wanted so just went with ....... )

Posted by: bpositive on September 1 2006 8:21 AM

Anyone that has turned off the bypass from the Hart will tell you, trucks turning ,cut the corner. I have been cut of more than once. It's only a matter of time before something happens. The truck traffic along 4th ave is cause for concern for anyone that uses it .Its not a matter of if , but when someone dies. This may not be a possitive outlook , but it's a reality. I,m sure all the testing is important ,as is the $ value of a new bridge. The question is what is a life worth.

Posted by: Gofaster on September 1 2006 4:44 PM

Hey Marty you could send his royalty an email.
He will probably ignore you as well as he did me.

LOL

Yes something needs to be done.
Someone is going to get hurt or worse.
Now if city will get off the studies, and do something!
Anything! That is better than nothing in my book.

Posted by: Chadermando on September 2 2006 12:26 AM

Kind of reminds me of the Mayor of Tafino and their water issue, only for Prince George it will be a major accident and our mayor will shut down all commercial trafic on 5th avenue to up the political anti.

IMO WIC will most likely get the contract....

Posted by: thereasonableman on September 2 2006 12:19 PM

It was demonstrated in the last election that it is not really an issue. One hopeful even openly admitted that the bridge was not a concern, then changed his tune just before the voting.

What do you guys think has changed since that day ?
Traffic is moving every day without the bridge, and nobody is getting killed and there seems to be no problems with the whole deal except for the usual wanking about "not near my house" and "run all the traffic by my business".
Whatever their motivation, the politicians have given this project the back burner for sure.

Posted by: Palopu on September 2 2006 3:34 PM

Its on the back burner because they are trying to get money from the Provincial and Federal Governments (14/15 Million) If they cannot access this money, then they will go to plan (2) which is to build a steel superstructure on the existing piers. This will cost approx 6/7 Million and will be paid for by Prince George Taxpayers. This money has already been budgeted for 2007 I beleive. If they get the money from the Province/Feds then the Citys portion for the 22 Million will be 7 Million. If they dont, then they build the steel superstructure with the 7 million that they have already budgeted. Get the picture. There is no plan (3), however it should have gone

Plan (1) Repair the present bridge for $750,000.00

Plan (2) Fix the intersection at 5th and the bypass to handle the increase in traffic, and build no bridge.

Plan (3) As a last resort build a steel superstructure on the existing piers.

Under no circumstances should a new bridge be built for 22 Million to channel traffic onto the Highway to merge with traffic coming off the John Hart Bridge less than 3 blocks away. This is insane.

The rumour is that plan (3) has been the game all along and the rest is just smoke and mirrors.

We need to repair the Cameron St. Bridge, and utilize it for the next 10 years with minimal repairs, and then if the situation warrants we can look at other alternatives.

There is no reason to beleive that traffic on the North Nechako, or Hart Highway will increase over the next 10 years, and in fact it is likely to decrease, therefore there is no sensible case for building a new bridge.

Posted by: thereasonableman on September 2 2006 11:59 PM

This money has already been budgeted for 2007 I beleive.

While the Cameron Street bridge was a key issue in the 2005 municipal election, the City�s current Capital Expenditure Plan indicates the earliest construction could start would be in 2008.

There is no reason to beleive that traffic on the North Nechako, or Hart Highway will increase over the next 10 years, and in fact it is likely to decrease, therefore there is no sensible case for building a new bridge.

Of course, of course. The building of a container terminal in Prince Rupert to ship cans to Edmonton and Vancouver couldn't possibly affect traffic on the Hart, in light of the possibility of CN building a container handling yard in Salmon Valley, not to mention all the oil/gas exploration beginning up North.

Posted by: Palopu on September 4 2006 8:55 PM

Give me a break. The containers loaded in Prince Rupert are destined to Toronto Ont. Chicago Ill, and Memphis Tenn. This has been stated time and time again by the people building the terminal in Prince Rupert, Mayer Terminals of New Jersey who is investing 60 Million in the Rupert Port and who will run it.

The only container traffic you might get on the Hart Hiway will be empty containers loaded in Mackenzie and trucked to Prince George for loading on Container Trains to Prince Rupert, however this traffic presently moves to Vancouver in Rail cars and is stuffed in Containers there so if the Rupert option is not competitive it will not fly. In any event it will have very little impact on the present traffic on the Hart Hiway, and if the Container Loading Facility is located in the old BC Rail Industrial Park then they wouldnt use the Cameron St. bridge in any event.
This is a long shot to make a case for increased traffic that would warrant building a new bridge for 22 Million dollars.

If the powers to be cannot get the Lumber Mills and Pulp Mills to change the way they now move their tonnage (Via Vancr) then there will be no need for a container terminal in Prince George. The only way these Companys will change how they do business is if they can save some money. At this point in time it looks like the best that Prince Rupert can do is to be competitive with Vancouver.