As the city announced yet another delay to the Peace Bridge, a top official admitted Friday that city hall didn’t brace for the woes that come with building an elaborate pedestrian crossing that aims to be "iconic" and world-class.
In the latest of many problems with the Santiago Calatrava footbridge, city-appointed inspectors using electric probes discovered inadequate welds in the Spanish subcontractors’ work, encased deep inside the tubular steel structure.
It’s the third delay for a $24.5-million project that was supposed to open to cyclists and joggers last October, then January, then this June. Now, transportation general manager Mac Logan said a fall completion is ideal, a 2012 opening is possible, but the city doesn’t yet know.
While it hasn’t been determined which party will absorb the costs involved in fixing the welds, the contractor said it shouldn’t be taxpayers.
"Any welding deficiencies will be corrected by the supplier of the bridge," said Kees Cusveller, vice-president of Graham Construction, the Calgary-based contractor which supervised the project.
The development marks a fresh disaster for the footbridge. The delays are on top of widespread public grumbles over its price tag, the sole-sourcing of Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, and the questionable priority of another pedestrian crossing a few blocks away from other ones.
Firms and cities worldwide have suffered cost overruns and schedule delays in turning Calatrava’s intricate designs into elegant, real-life edifices that become world-renowned art pieces.
"We picked a schedule date that was probably unrealistic before we knew what we were getting into. That was unwise," Logan said.
"We took our lumps over that. In order to get the quality that we wanted, it was going to take more time," said Logan. "Maybe the budget that we set before we got into the detailed design was, again, unrealistic."
But he said these latest discoveries in recent days should have been spotted by the contractors and subcontractors before the intricate steel parts were shipped to Canada and were assembled in Eau Claire.
"I was relying on testing that was done at the source point, and if we find that that wasn’t done properly, that’s tremendously disappointing," Logan said, adding further testing will reveal whether the problems are systematic.
The city will conduct more testing to determine the extent of the problems, but Cusveller said it might simply be a case of differing specifications here versus in Spain.
"There are probably some deficiencies in the welding, but it could just be different testing results and specifications in Spain," he said. "Now we need to make sure there is conformity."
He also said such deficiencies are not uncommon or surprising when purchasing steel from "several thousand miles away."
Whatever the extent of the weld woes, they can be fixed without disassembling the bridge or replacing the massive steel parts, Logan noted.
Cusveller agreed, adding local welders will be hired to fix the work.
The city’s fixed-price contract states that overruns be covered by Graham and steel fabricator Augescon, whose bid for the work was far below any Canadian steel firm’s.
Cusveller said taxpayers shouldn’t have to shoulder any additional repair costs.
"If the supplier didn’t meet the specs the city set out, it’s not a taxpayer cost, it’s a supplier cost," he said, adding those details are still being worked out.
Cusveller said despite this latest delay and uncertainty, taxpayers are still getting good value.
"It’s a splendid piece of architecture," he said.
"Yes, it’s going to be later than people hoped, but it’s still going to be a gorgeous icon for this city."
The bridge was nearing completion -its steel pieces all assembled in a 130-metre helix, the glass installed and wide walkway in place. Had these bad welds not been spotted, the structure could have cracked or buckled, shortening the lifespan of a bridge designed to last a century, Logan said.
A Graham official had acknowledged late last year that the project was more difficult than anticipated, but those remarks concerned the Calgary-based assembly work rather than the overseas steel production.
Several council members expressed frustration with the latest bridge bad news, which has dogged the project since it was first suggested in mid-2008.
"You can’t taint this bridge any more than it has already been tainted," said Ald. John Mar, one of three sitting members who voted for the project.
Councillor Andre Chabot, who didn’t support the project from the start, said this should serve as a lesson for the city to avoid overseas projects.
"Certainly, this has been a learning experience," he said.
Mayor Naheed Nenshi, who inherited this venture from predecessor Dave Bronconnier, was out of town and couldn’t be reached for comment Friday.
Augescon, headquartered in Calatrava’s Valencia home town, has worked on many of his projects in Spain, including an airport terminal in Bilbao.
The architect said in a Herald interview last fall that he wanted Canadians to know that the construction delays have nothing to do with him, and that he didn’t "want to get the reputation of somebody that you cannot trust."
Councillor Druh Farrell, an architecture buff and staunch defender of the bridge in her ward, predicted that the troubled Peace Bridge will one day become the civic marvel that council supported in the first place.
"Most cities that have a Calatrava bridge love them, and they’re proud of them, and I think Calgary will be," she said.
"But it has been a painful process."
Calgary Herald
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