Vancouver city council to discuss Cambie Street Bridge funding

Vancouver staff are asking city council to approve $35 million in additional spending for seismic upgrades to the Cambie Street Bridge.

The report, to be tabled Tuesday, seeks to raise the capital budget for the second stage of the project, worth around $68.5 million, bringing the total close to $220 million for the entire job.

A 2019 report found the bridge does not meet current seismic code, saying it would not perform well in the face of a natural disaster.

Coun. Pete Fry says in light of recent catastrophes, such as the fires in Los Angeles, the upgrades are necessary.

“Our city is reliant on a network of bridges to reach the downtown core and onwards,” he said.

“It seems reasonable that investing in seismic is worthwhile.”

Fry says the proposal also shows the bridge, once upgraded, could withstand an earthquake and still be a usable route.

“Typically when we do seismic resilience projects, it is to keep it from collapsing, but it’s not gonna be usable,” he said.

This is not the first report put forward about upgrading the bridge, but Fry says this one seeks to gain federal funding. He says council is hoping to get support as part of the Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund for up to $84 million of the project’s total cost.

There are questions about what will happen if the money doesn’t come through. Fry says he is not sure if council would be on the hook for the full cost of the upgrades.

“My understanding is that this upgrade is to open up the opportunity to get this additional federal funding.”

The Cambie Street Bridge is the newest of all the downtown Vancouver connectors, having been built in 1985.

The report says the Granville and Burrard Street bridges cannot face the same repairs as Cambie.

With files from Michael Williams.