The City of Victoria has floated three designs for the new Johnson Street Bridge. They’re all bascule bridges, meaning they swing up with a counterweight, because that’s the simplest energy-efficient way to build a movable bridge.
- Reverse bascule
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The copy says this is inspired by van Gogh’s Drawbridge with Carriage, except that bridge is a double regular bascule, not a single reverse bascule. The inspiration is that, unlike 20th century bascules like the current Strauss bridge, the counterweight is a panel instead of a cement block. It’s hard to make out in the distance sketches, but the way it works is the horizontal panel hinges to vertical when the bridge opens. I can’t find a picture of an open reverse bascule, so I think they must be uncommon. - Rolling bascule
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As far as I can tell, the Canary Wharf area has a bunch of bridges and proposed bridges: one of them is a rolling bascule.* According to the city of Victoria’s director of engineering, the Canary Wharf bridge has the rolling mechanism below the deck with a walkway passing through it: the Victoria version has the rolling mechanism above deck to be more visually striking.
I believe the Te Wero Bridge being built in Auckland is a rolling bascule bridge; I wish Victoria’s bridge could be so cool:
- Cable-stayed bascule
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You get to choose your tower shape and angle, as well as how the cables are connected but these bridges all basically look the same:
Writers to the Times Colonist have suggested a replica of the current bridge or of London’s Tower Bridge.
I voted for the rolling bascule because I think it has the best combination of industrial girders to reference the working harbor and stupid modernist curves to reference tourism.
* The City’s website stole the photo from WikiMedia, violating copyright.
