Vancouver staff recommends spending additional $35M to earthquake-proof Cambie Street Bridge
Total costs of upgrading could be over $217M
Vancouver staff are asking council to approve an extra $35 million to seismically upgrade the Cambie Street Bridge.
A report will be tabled at Tuesday's meeting seeking to raise the capital budget for the project's second phase to $68.5 million for the expanded scope of work.
In total, seismically upgrading the bridge could cost over $217 million, the report states.
"Vancouver is in an active seismic region that could be impacted by an earthquake at any time," it says.
"The Cambie Street Bridge Seismic Upgrade Project will significantly increase seismic resiliency of the bridge, improving how the bridge would perform during a seismic event and minimizing costs associated with its repairs."
Staff say keeping this bridge strong in the face of an earthquake is "vital" for keeping the city moving.
A 2019 report found the bridge built in 1985 would not meet the current seismic code.
"Given the increased seismic hazard and potential for soil liquefaction, the Bridge is not expected to perform well," it read.
"After a moderate level earthquake, the Bridge would likely need to be closed and require replacement."
Needed for emergency disaster response
The report for Tuesday's meeting of council notes the Cambie Street Bridge, the newest of three False Creek spans, would be counted on for emergency response and recovery after a quake.
It says the Granville and Burrard street bridges cannot be seismically upgraded to the same level as Cambie.
"The proposed work will enhance the bridge's seismic resilience by significantly reducing the potential damage it may sustain from an earthquake," the report states. "This means emergency vehicles will be able to use the bridge shortly after an earthquake, and repair costs to fully reopen the bridge to the public will be minimized."
Neither city staff nor any members of the ruling ABC council majority on council would speak about the report on Thursday.
Green Coun. Pete Fry says keeping the bridge functional in a disaster matters.
"We see these massive disasters happen around the world, things like catastrophic fires in L.A. that we're seeing right now," Fry said. "And we need to plan to mitigate for those kinds of things."
The planned work would make Cambie's earthquake performance "nearly equivalent" to the modern bridge code when it comes to a one-in-2,475-year event.
An assessment of the bridge was ordered in 2018, the report says, and work has been ongoing since then. The first phase of seismic work was finished in 2022.
If the capital budget were to increase to $68.5 million, the second phase's work, including strengthening the south approach and Second Avenue off-ramp, would expand.
The city has applied to the federal Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund for up to $84 million of the project's total cost, with the city and TransLink set to share the rest of the $149 million tab.
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