Point Ellice Bridge - 1957 - Victoria, British Columbia, Canada - Bridge Date Stones and Plaques on Waymarking.com

The Point Ellice Bridge, known better locally as the Bay Street Bridge, is a concrete and steel bridge that allows Bay Street to span the upper portion of Victoria Harbour. The bridge connects Point Ellice on the Victoria side to Victoria West. The current bridge is the sixth bridge to span the harbour at this location.

The first bridge was built in 1861. That was replaced by a new bridge in 1872, and then another in 1885. On May 26, 1896, as a streetcar carrying 143 passengers was crossing this third version of the bridge, it collapsed and the streetcar was dumped into the harbour. 55 men, women, and children died in the accident, making it one of the worst disasters in British Columbia history and the worst accident in Canadian transit history. The streetcar operator was found to be responsible for the accident by allowing the streetcar to be overloaded. In addition, the City of Victoria was found to have contributed to the disaster by not properly maintaining the bridge when it was determined that some of the bridge timbers were rotten.

After what is now known as the Point Ellice Bridge Disaster, a temporary bridge was built just south of the damaged bridge and opened in December 1896. The remains of the failed bridge were dynamited in July 1900. The temporary bridge ended up being semi-permanent, because a new permanent bridge wasn't built until 1904, eight years after the disaster. With ever-increasing volume and weight of traffic, the current and sixth iteration of the bridge was built and opened in November 1957. It reuses the same piers as the previous 1904 bridge, though they were strengthened and reconditioned.

The plaque is located on a concrete pillar at the southeast corner of the bridge deck. It reads:

POINT ELLICE BRIDGE
OPENED BY
HIS WORSHIP MAYOR P.B. SCURRAH
NOVEMBER 1957
- - -
J.C. GARNETT
CITY ENGINEER
- - -
CONSULTING ENGINEERS
A.B. SANDERSON AND COMPANY LTD.

CONTRACTORS
DOMINION BRIDGE Co. LTD. FARMER CONSTRUCTION

Date built or dedicated as indicated on the date stone or plaque.: November 1957 Date stone, plaque location.: The end of the railing at the southeast corner of the bridge deck Road, body of water, land feature, etc. that the bridge spans.: Upper Harbour/Selkirk Water Parking (safe parking location): N 48° 26.088 W 123° 22.554 Website (if available): Not listed

Visit Instructions:
Please provide an original picture of the location and some original words regarding your visit.

Recent Visits/Logs:

There are no logs for this waymark yet.