For the hundreds of drivers who couldn’t go anywhere it made for a long wait. But for the people who gathered along the waterfront in Victoria’s Inner Harbour on Tuesday evening, it was a spectacle rarely seen on the city waterway.
Barge carrying Johnson St bridge pieces coming through harbour. #yyj #amazingsight @CityOfVictoria pic.twitter.com/mERuhsRWAm
— Victoria News (@VictoriaNews) September 20, 2017
Hundreds of people watched as tugs pulled and guided a massive barge carrying the new Johnson Street bridge span from Ogden Point through the Inner Harbour and under the raised existing bridge to its assembly point in the upper harbour.
The bridge span, along with the pedestrian and multi-use pathway pieces, were the final steel elements to arrive for the new bridge, which was delayed for many months due to problems with the steel manufacturing in China.
The current bridge was lifted as the tugs and barge navigated a tight corner before heading for the opening. Vehicle traffic was held up for more than 20 minutes and sat idle along the length of Wharf Street, as well as Yates, Pandora and Store streets as the shipment made its way through the gap.
READ: Final steel shipment arrives for Johnson Street Bridge
The barge NT12000 was no doubt one of the larger vessels to ever transit under the raised bridge, while the tug pulling it, Arctic Taglu, would be one of the larger boats of its kind to come through as well.
