Supply chain challenge delays Bay Street Bridge construction, city says

The City of Victoria has announced supply chain issues will delay the start of its maintenance work on the Point Ellice Bridge until “early 2026,” after notifying the public work was slated to begin this fall.

Staff told CTV News Tuesday that it was hoping to begin construction Oct. 7, but that it was waiting to confirm the arrival of some parts. The start date for the project is now being rescheduled after staff learned a custom part won’t be arriving until November.

“The last thing we want to do is get in there and start the work and then not have the necessary pieces to continue in a straight line,” said Richard Adam, the city’s transportation design and delivery manager. “Nobody wants to see the bridge closed with no activity on it, so we want to make sure everything’s really ready.”

The public had been forewarned traffic in the eastbound lane of the crossing, commonly known as the Bay Street Bridge, would be closing this fall for the work.

Once the $750,000 project gets underway, the city says crews will be replacing the bridge’s deck joints that allow the bridge to expand and shrink with temperature changes. Crews will also be replacing an old drainage system.

“It’s going to cause some pain for people but we’re doing our best to mitigate the impacts (by) maintaining the single direction of travel, maintaining pedestrian and cycling access and looking at the rest of the network to make adjustments there so that traffic flows a little more smoothly during the closure,” says Adam.

He says it’s up to the contractor to revise the schedule and confirms the city won’t incur any additional costs as a result of the delay to construction.