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Blue Bridge bites the dust

Eyesore's end comes six months later than planned

THE demolition of West Vancouver's 82-year-old Blue Bridge is finally underway, several months after it was initially planned.

The steel bridge, which was finished in 1929, was replaced earlier this year by a new three-lane crossing over the Capilano River, and has sat idle since then.

The replacement and demolition, paid for by the federal government's Economic Action Plan funds, was originally supposed to be finished by March 31, but was one of the projects to receive a deadline extension for funding last December.

It was pushed back to July, and now is expected to be done by the end of September, said a Ministry of Transportation spokesperson.

The problem came from the delivery of steel girders for the new bridge, which didn't arrive until Jan. 2011, instead of the originally scheduled Sept. 2010, according to the ministry. The change pushed back the construction of the new bridge, and the demolition of the old one.

All the metal from the span will be recycled.

The work may also result in lane closures, with updates posted online.

The demolition is a disappointment to Michael Roberts, a Vancouver-based engineer who had tried to jumpstart a campaign to save the bridge to be reused for another purpose - suggesting a farmers market, museum space or simply a pedestrian crossing.

"The bridge is in really good shape; there's no reason it's got no life in it," he said, pointing to its historical significance. It was opened by B.C.'s premier at the time, Simon Fraser Tolmie.

He said the Ministry of Transportation could have consulted with the community to come up with other uses, but didn't make the effort.

He donated his time in the spring to create a virtual 3D model of the bridge as a way of keeping a record, something he hoped could be used to remember it.

For more information and construction updates, visit www.th.gov.bc.ca.

tholloway@nsnews.com