The Dismantling of the Blue Bridge Begins

It was going to come down. It was just a matter of time. February 24th was the day the end began. Victoria's city council had already decided to retire the old blue bridge and replace it with a shiny new one.

Hastening the demise of the bridge was the report by engineers that the rail portion was dangerous so it was raised sometime last summer to prevent any more traffic from crossing. This made life somewhat more difficult for cyclists as they had to merge with traffic on the corrugated metal roadway. It's a kind of unnerving surface as it feels like your tires are swimming around a bit. Add to that the tendency for many drivers to try to squeeze by you.

I managed to get a few pictures of the bridge after the announcement of its permanent raising but I've really got no pictures of it down. It's one of those things that you travel on or across or by or whatever your whole life and as much as it becomes so familiar, you never really get a picture of it.

The Blue Bridge from Vic West, Esquimalt Road.

From downtown, Store Street.

So here we were on a wet (very wet) February 24th watching the rail portion dangling above the barge that was to take it away. I hadn't planned on going down to see the bridge but as it was terribly wet outside I decided to take the 24 bus into town. At about 12pm the bridge was closed so the bus was diverted across the Bay bridge. The traffic was terrible going into town which I suspect is a sign of things to come when the whole blue bridge comes down.

I made my way down to the bridge but couldn't get a clear view. It turned out that the best views were to be had in the parking lot below the Janion building. The lot was full of people. I guess they wanted a last glimpse of the iconic structure as it passes away. I can't say it was terribly exciting, the piece of the bridge in the photo just hung there for a good twenty minutes before I left. I'm glad I didn't take a video.

The rail portion, dangling over the barge.

I really don't know what the plan is for taking down the rest of the bridge. I suspect that some road work has to be done to straighten out Esquimalt road -- the jog under the rail bridge is nonsense. Let's hope that the time between the closing of the entire bridge and its reopening is kept to a minimum because the increased traffic across the Bay bridge will be a nightmare.