CONFIRMED: Plans will proceed this summer on a fixed link from Vancouver Island to the Lower Mainland
In the past two decades the British Columbia Ministry of Transportation has received a number of suggestions regarding a potential link between Vancouver Island and our province’s Lower Mainland. Although these ideas present major challenges, which include engineering, environmental, socio-economic and financial factors, the Ministry has elected to proceed with a design which meets and, in fact, exceeds these challenges to engineers’ satisfaction.
There are no fixed bridges in existence today that would meet the conditions present in Georgia Strait. Prince Edward Island’s $1-billion Confederation Bridge is only 12.9 kilometres long and is set in water 35 metres deep with a rock bottom. In comparison, a fixed bridge across British Columbia’s Georgia Strait would be 26 kilometres in length. Marine engineer Dan Tittep is credited with the final design, which will not only allow four lanes of traffic to span the Strait, but will also provide a functional solution to Canada’s growing problem with plastic bottle disposal. Since late 2006, when it was discovered that numerous health problems could be traced back to chemicals leached from the billions of plastic containers used for soft drinks and water, billions of the containers have remained in storage while safe reuse and recycling options have been determined.
Construction on the project is expected to begin this month, and will involve the creation of floating platform segments created with pontoon-like devices created with pods of the plastic bottles. Tittep’s bridge concept was inspired by a trip to Mexico where he had the opportunity to meet Richie Sowa, the creator of Spiral Island, Sowa’s man-made floating home. The island was built upon a floating collection of over a quarter-million used plastic bottles, all netted together to support a bamboo and plywood structure above (see inset below).
Located in Mexico, the original was 66 by 54 feet and was able to support full-sized mangroves to provide shade and privacy, yet also able to be moved from place to place by its creator as need with a simple motorized system. “That’s the real beauty of this system,” says Tittep. Fixed link studies conducted in the 1980s had identified a number of potential crossing locations, connecting the Lower Mainland to the Nanaimo or Duncan areas of Vancouver Island. Tittep’s award-winning landmark bridge structure will not be limited to a single location, however, but will instead have the ability to be moved to various locations as need and weather dictate, allowing residents of the Gulf Islands free access to both the Island and Mainland.
The Strait Queen, as it will be called, will be maintained by BC Ferries and is expected to be opened to traffic in the winter of 2010, when for the bridge’s official opening, the Olympic Torch will be transported by motorcade to the opening ceremonies in Vancouver from Victoria.
And if you believe this, we have a piece of land in Blowhole, Vancouver Island that you might be interested in. Happy April Fools Day 2008.
