76 replies to this topic

[gumgum]

Blue glow proposed for 'blue bridge'

Victoria entrepreneurs hatched plan while admiring illuminated legislature


Carolyn Heiman, Times Colonist

Published: Saturday, February 23, 2008
The blue bridge may get a little bluer.
Plans are afoot to bathe the historic bridge in a blue light at night.
Bud Dovey and Knud Mortensen came up with the idea about two years ago while admiring the lights of the Inner Harbour and legislature buildings over dinner.
View Larger ImageNIGHT LIGHTS FOR HISTORIC LANDMARK?: The Johnson Street Bridge is bathed in blue light to test a plan by two Victoria business people to light up the bridge at night.




We were looking at the Johnson Street bridge and talked about how it would look lit up, said Mortensen. "Other cities we've been to really light up their downtown. It makes them welcoming. We felt we've been in business a long time here ... close to 50 years ... and this would be an area to give back."
Neither Dovey or Mortensen would say how much it would cost to do the project but Dovey, owner of Equitex Realty and Management, said he doesn't want it to cost the taxpayer anything.
Mortensen, the division manager for electrical contractor Canem Systems Ltd., said time is the biggest thing they've invested to date as numerous options have been tried in the search for one that will require low energy use, withstand a saltwater environment, not contribute to light pollution or be glaring for motorists, and be easy to take on and off in the event the bridge has to be painted.
"It's been a process trying to get the right thing," he said, adding several new lighting technologies have been tried.
This week the pair said they are close to what they think is the best lighting solution, although Dovey noted "we're not trying to railroad anything through. . . . If no on likes it we will remove it at our cost."
The project was broached at Victoria city council by Coun. Charlayne Thornton-Joe who asked for a staff report on the idea and what impact it might have in a number of areas including heritage, structural and operational impact on the bridge, and safety and light pollution.
Ken Kelly, executive director of the Downtown Victoria Business Association, likes the idea and points to Vancouver's Lions Gate Bridge that "looks like a string of pearls" when lit up.
The Johnson Street Bridge is a bascule type of bridge, referring to its ability to rise from one end when a counterweight on the other end lowers. Its claim to fame comes from its connections to Joseph Strauss, the designer of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and who played a role in the Victoria bridge's design.
The Johnson Street Bridge cost $918,000 in 1924.
cheiman@tc.canwest.com


© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2008

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[G-Man]

This is such a good idea that I am shocked someone in the city actually came up with it.

[amor de cosmos]

that's a cool idea. it would be kind of like those black lights people put under their cars.

[Ms. B. Havin]

^ I think this is a great idea -- love it!

[B.Bridge]

I, of course, am flattered.

[aastra]

What was the deal with that light pipe they used to have on top of the divider on the Esquimalt Road side? I liked that.

[Mike K.]

I heard the Bay Street bridge would be lit up in green lights if the Johnson Street bridge lighting test is a success. Can anyone confirm this?

[Caramia]

It would be beautiful, a harbour bookend for the Parliament building lights at night. I am impressed that something like this is coming from the private sector. Victoria has a tradition of civic minded business people enhancing the public realm, and some day someone is going to have to make a list of who these people are, and what they have to be thanked for. Here's to hoping this vision becomes a reality.

[Baro]

Just don't try to build any statues to honour them, that would be going over Pam's head and that simply cannot be done. Art must be done by committee!

[FunkyMunky]

I'm a fan of the general idea of illuminating architecture but is this grand idea likely to happen? A few years ago there was short-lived enthusiasm for the idea of illuminating the sidewalk prisms around downtown and that has gone absolutely nowhere. I imagine this project has the same (not so bright) future.

[G-Man]

^ That is happening as part of both the Gateway Green and the Hudson.

[Nparker]

Assuming either of those projects materialize in the forms promised. I am still optimistic about Gateway Green, but I am suspect of the "tower" phases of the Hudson coming to fruition - at least as originally envisioned.

[Holden West]

March 14, 1919: Mayor says CPR bridge plans won't do

This Day in History
Times Colonist
Published: Friday, March 14, 2008

Stories from our pages over the last 150 years.

Mayor Robert Porter told the City Council last night that the CPR plans for the proposed Johnson Street bridge had arrived safe and sound, but that he had informed the CPR frankly that they would not do.

"They asked me for an expression of opinion," he said, "and I stated without hesitation that there was no use in bringing the plans before the aldermen, as you would not approve of them for a minute."

After the meeting, the Mayor and aldermen pored over the CPR diagrams and then compared them with the plans being worked upon by City Engineer F. M. Preston, which provide for an entirely different type of bridge and a larger one.

The CPR offered a bridge with a swinging span and a roadway only eighteen feet across. The city draughtsmen are marking out a bascule bridge that will have a 38-foot roadway, with provision for two streetcar tracks and railway tracks on different elevations.

It will be remembered that some time ago Premier Oliver received a wire from President Beatty, of the CPR, stating that the plans were on their way to Victoria for approval. Last night the Mayor gave the first intimation that they were unsatisfactory, although several days ago the engineer was instructed to prepare plans of his own. As soon as they are finished, they will go forward to the various parties interested.

© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2008

[Holden West]

Title: Victoria's Johnson Street bridge under construction; the earlier swing bridge still extant, later deconstructed.

Photographer/Artist: UNDETERMINED
Date: [1919]

[UrbanRail]

March 14, 1919: Mayor says CPR bridge plans won't do

This Day in History
Times Colonist
Published: Friday, March 14, 2008

Stories from our pages over the last 150 years.

Mayor Robert Porter told the City Council last night that the CPR plans for the proposed Johnson Street bridge had arrived safe and sound, but that he had informed the CPR frankly that they would not do.

"They asked me for an expression of opinion," he said, "and I stated without hesitation that there was no use in bringing the plans before the aldermen, as you would not approve of them for a minute."

After the meeting, the Mayor and aldermen pored over the CPR diagrams and then compared them with the plans being worked upon by City Engineer F. M. Preston, which provide for an entirely different type of bridge and a larger one.

The CPR offered a bridge with a swinging span and a roadway only eighteen feet across. The city draughtsmen are marking out a bascule bridge that will have a 38-foot roadway, with provision for two streetcar tracks and railway tracks on different elevations.

It will be remembered that some time ago Premier Oliver received a wire from President Beatty, of the CPR, stating that the plans were on their way to Victoria for approval. Last night the Mayor gave the first intimation that they were unsatisfactory, although several days ago the engineer was instructed to prepare plans of his own. As soon as they are finished, they will go forward to the various parties interested.

© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2008

It sounds like the original plans were for a bigger bridge.

[gumgum]

They should let nature take its course. In fact, they should rip up the road that runs up the spit and bring it back to original condition.

Colwood's Coburg Peninsula under threat
Winter storms undermining bridge to popular site; cost of remediation could run into the millions
Bill Cleverley, Times Colonist
Published: Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Options range from doing nothing to spending a bundle
Bill Cleverley, Times Colonist
Published: Wednesday, April 02, 2008

[Holden West]

Gordon Price on pedestrian bridges, including Vancouver's new one.

[Mike K.]

Those blue lights currently on the bridge (test lights for the blue bridge light-up plan, I think?) are pretty underwhelming.

Surely there's better lighting technology that could be used to light up the bridge than Xmas-sy looking strings of bulbs.

[Rob Randall]

^Yeah, I thought it was going to be more of a blue glow from uplighting.

[gumgum]

If it's just a test, maybe it's nothing close to what it will look like.