Project Highlights

Modern blue steel meets historical arches. The Craigflower Bridge is a four span, steel arched truss and precast concrete bridge crossing the Gorge waterway in Victoria, BC. The bridge connects View royal and Saanich and is heavily used for vehicle and pedestrian traffic as well as for fishing. The bridge is 120 meters long with a non-symmetrical deck width of 20 meters incorporating the roadway, bicycle lanes, side-walks and fishing areas. The 4 spans are continuous and the integral abutments are mounted on steel pipe piles socketed into bedrock approximately 20m below the low water level.

Three intermediate pile-supported, concrete-capped piers support the spans. The bridge deck was raised 1.5 meters above the previous deck height to account for predicted tidal water increase. Lights were mounted on the bridge piers to give the bridge an impressive nighttime effect over the water. The design was carried out in several stages during 2011-2012. Construction took place from April 2013 to May 2014. Capital cost of the bridge was approximately $11 million.

Herold Engineering recognized at the proposal stage that the replacement structure had to be more than just a standard steel or concrete bridge. It had to reflect the colonial history of the site, the close proximity to the land for ancestral use by the Songhees and Esquimalt First nations, current and future transportation needs by the adjacent communities and a people place for fishing, walking, cycling and just relaxing in an idyllic setting. To meet these significant parameters, Herold Engineering retained the local Victoria office of Hughes Condon Marler Architects to help us, the two municipalities and the public created a water crossing that we are all very proud of. The Canadian Institute of Steel Construction awarded the new Craigflower Bridge with a 2015 BC Steel Design Award of Excellence.