Book of the Bard
The book that preserved Shakespeare on display Page A3
NEWS: Local MLAs eye NDP leadership bid /A3 BUSINESS: Duo keeps sports feet high and dry /A13 SPORTS: Rams football on top of the country /A22
SAANICHNEWS Wednesday, September 25, 2013
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Design flaw leads to more delays, higher cost for Craigflower bridge 124 joints on bridge reenforced to boost seismic stability
T
he opening of the new Craigflower Bridge will be delayed yet again after engineers discovered the bridge – as planned – could have collapsed or been severely damaged during an earthquake. Engineers on the project determined in July that some 124 load-bearing joints on the new span needed to Kyle Slavin be strengthened in order to Reporting improve its seismic standing. “The bridge would’ve been fine, it certainly would’ve stood up (day-to-day). But the risk is with the forces of an earthquake, you have to have these incredible strong connections,” said Jim Hemstock, Saanich’s manager of capital projects. The vulnerability was discovered after the steel fabricator had begun constructing bridge components, when the project’s design engineer reviewed the fabricator’s detailed drawings. And while it’s a relatively easy fix – extra steel plates need to be welded on at each of those joints – it’s work that wasn’t planned in the original contract. Saanich has spent the last three months negotiating with the contractor, Don Mann Excavating, on what impact this new work will have on the construction timeline and budget, but it still doesn’t have firm answers to either of those questions. “We’re expecting probably another month delay. We’ll be opening in the spring of 2014,” Hemstock said. Saanich Mayor Frank Leonard said the bridge will be open “no sooner than March, no later than the end of May, June.” PlEASE SEE: Contingency budget, Page A4
MLS #327283
William Shepherd/News staff
Don Marshall wades near Hamsterly Beach at Elk Lake searching for lost rings and jewelry with his underwater metal detector. At right is his scoop and floating sifter. The retired Saanich resident helps people find lost jewelry through TheRingFinders.com, a directory website for metal detector detectives from around the world.
Saanich’s finder of lost rings Metal detector hobbyist reunites lost jewelry with owners Edward Hill News staff
In a surfing wetsuit, headphones on, electronic gear strapped to his body, wading slowly through the water, Don Marshall doesn’t look like other park goers at Elk Lake. He is in the zone, sweeping the shallow murky water with his underwater metal detector, focused on hitting a telltale chirp of treasure buried in silt
MLS #325623
4899A Cordova Bay Road CORDOVA BAY $629,000
5222 Santa Clara $724,500
below. Chances are that of the thousands of people who flocked to Hamsterly Beach over the many hot days of summer, at least a few lost prized jewelry in the water. “I listen for the tones. You can tell from the crispness of the sound when it’s pure metal. The tone is very sharp. Rusted nails sound corroded, sound gravelly or growly,” Marshall says. “When you hit a good tone you get excited, but it could be a bottle cap that’s not rusted, or a pull tab. You get all excited and it’s a damn pull tab.” The retired Saanich resident has been ring and jewelry hunting around Greater Victoria for about three years and has been the mild-mannered sav-
MLS #327406 306-2095 Oak Bay $229,900
250.744.3301 www.roxannebrass.com remaxroxanne@shaw.ca
iour for five people this year alone. He’s Victoria’s sole listing on The Ring Finders website, a worldwide directory of metal detectors for hire. This year Marshall is batting 100 per cent – five calls for help, five located rings, both on land and in water. At East Sooke Park in July, he spent five hours over two days to zero in on a wedding ring lost in shallow water by a woman playing with her kids. A few weeks later at the University of Victoria, he located a platinum engagement ring lost amid grass and trees behind the Student Union Building. PlEASE SEE: Popular parks, Page A10