Johnson Street Bridge retrospective, part 1 of 2, published on July 19, provided a recapitulation of how the Johnson Street Bridge (JSB) project had developed over the past 15 months. Part two of this two-part series focuses on the conversation that the JSB project generated on VibrantVictoria.ca’s discussion forum. The discussion produced many useful and relevant websites and articles, as well as deep insights into Victoria’s heritage and history.

VibrantVictoria’s JSB discussion threads became a hive of activity when the project was announced in April 2009.  Immediately two types of participants emerged: pro-replacement and pro-restoration.

Keep or replace? The Johnson Street Bridge elicits strong reactions. Photo © by VibrantVictoria.ca.

The pro-replacement forum members largely did not approve of the current bridge: they either found it ugly, unpleasant to cross, difficult to access, or all of the above.

The City of Victoria’s reasons for replacement included: the bridge being a safety hazard; not withstanding a major earthquake; and its advanced age making ongoing maintenance fiscally unwise. Each of the latter points were (and to this day continue to be) debated on VibrantVictoria’s discussion forum with the following responses tending to represent a consensus among those who do not agree with the City’s assessment:

• Although the City has not done any maintenance on the bridge for eleven years, there is no immediate danger of the bridge collapsing. The Delcan Report states that all rust on the bridge is surface only, not all-corroding. Lastly, the City conducted repairs in 1999 that they claimed would add “several more decades of useful life” to the JSB.
• The JSB has not been seismically upgraded, yet it carries no important utilities. The availability of another bridge (the Bay Street Bridge, otherwise known as the Point Ellice Bridge) does not make the JSB the sole artery into Victoria from Vic West. City Hall says the JSB should be upgraded to withstand an 8.5 magnitude earthquake. By contrast, the Bay Street bridge, which carries the gas and water mains into the city, was seismically upgraded in the 1990’s to withstand a 6.5 magnitude earthquake.  The cost was $1-million.
• Frank Nelson, a respected engineer and expert on bridges, said that a repair with scheduled maintenance could see the already 86-year old bridge last another 85 years, and as such the total costs for the repair and maintenance still being less than the costs for replacement. The City has said that repairing the bridge would mean shutting it down for 6-8 months. Nelson, who has experience with bridges in considerably worse condition than the JSB, said a 3 month shutdown period would likely be the maximum
• Forum member “mat” also pointed to an article about a “self-healing” paint additive that can protect bridges from corrosion. Developed by two professors from the Beckman Institute at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the product was announced in December 2008 and should be available now.

The members who see the JSB project as an opportunity to improve Victoria have cited a variety of features that the City could incorporate. Because the existing bridge has a rail component, several want to see it kept so that it can become part of a Greater Victoria commuter rail line with a downtown terminus. For members like “UrbanRail” this would be a vital step to providing the infrastructure for a future train-based transit system. Others want to see the new bridge better serve cyclists by having separated lanes and improved approaches for all users.

Surplus land and bridge approaches

One thing that members had always been aware of was potential development of land next to the bridge approaches. If the City straightened the approaches, it would free up land that could be sold to developers for market rates. The first member to mention this possibility was “amor de cosmos.” Although it remained a popular idea and was mentioned multiple times throughout the 100+ page Johnson Street Bridge general discussion thread, it did have its critics. Members “Ms. B Havin” and “aastra” said that the existing curve on the Vic West side was good because it slowed traffic going into downtown and that straightening it would encourage a car-centric vision of downtown. A conversation about changing Johnson Street’s one-way status led “amor de cosmos” to quote from Suburban Nation that multiple-lane one-way streets encourage speeding and decrease pedestrian traffic (to learn more about the traffic crossing the Johnson St Bridge, exploring the CRD Transportation Model site and this Stats Can site are good places to start).

Members have also discussed what type of bridge could replace the JSB. Forum member “victorian fan” wrote on April 03, 2009 that “if it is replaced, I’d like to see another bascule bridge.” In response, forum member “mat” suggested that a swing bridge with “better design for cable support could be an iconic image of the inner harbour.” Members “G-Man” and “aastra” remained skeptical that the City would replace the bridge with an interesting structure, since at that time the City maintained replacement would cost $40-million.

The bridge as heritage

By far the majority of the thread was spent debating the heritage worth of the JSB.  In fact, Parks Canada recommends “preserving engineering works that are important in defining the overall heritage value of the historic place.” There is no way that the Johnson Street Bridge’s historic place can be argued away: it represents an age when Victoria still hoped to develop itself into the primary Pacific port in Canada, when fleets of whalers, tugboats and schooners filled the Upper Harbour and factories lined the shoreline. This age of vaunting ambition and bustling commerce is rarely cited in modern tourism and promotional literature, which tends to bill the city as a gracious outpost of a faded Imperial glory.

Many of the buildings from this early era have been demolished, leading member “aastra” to question Focus writer Sam Williams’ assertion that Victoria has a commitment to its heritage:

“I question whether this long-standing commitment [to heritage] really exists. We all want to assume that it does exist, but where’s the evidence? Do stiff height restrictions, the “fatscraper aesthetic,” (referring to overly wide, short buildings) endless calls for inappropriate setbacks, and cheap faux-Victorian details really constitute a commitment to heritage preservation? Methinks this disregard for the bridge’s historical significance is not so mysterious after all. It’s the Centennial Square project of the 21^st century. The auto-centric, suburbanization mission is still going ahead full steam. The more we can ‘open things up’ for the car, the better Victoria will be.”

Victoria’s true identity

Underneath the debate about replacing the JSB there is a debate about what Victoria’s identity – its heritage – actually is.  While many members on VibrantVictoria maintain a historical perspective on Victoria, which leads to a very robust definition of heritage, the city uses a much narrower definition.  For example, in 2009 the City of Victoria told a private business it could not remove an interior wall because it would compromise a heritage in terior.  By February 2010, Victoria tax-payers were on the hook for $650,000 that the City had to pay to the business in compensation (incidentally, the campaign to save the heritage wall was spearheaded by a group that was mysteriously silent when the JSB project was announced).  Perhaps what the discussion on the Johnson Street Bridge project really reveals is the great irony about Victoria’s commitment to heritage: mayor and council rush to defend heritage when it is owned by someone else, yet when the heritage is a municipal asset, its handling becomes pragmatic rather than protectionist.

For readers interested in participation in the Johnson Street Bridge debate, refer to VibrantVictoria.ca’s four discussion threads on the Johnson Street Bridge project: [Johnson Street Bridge] – General discussion, [Johnson Street Bridge] – Design and technical discussion, [Johnson Street Bridge] Funding discussion (incl. counter-petition) and [Johnson Street Bridge] Photos and historical discussion.

Read part one of the Johnson Street Bridge retrospective.

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