More debris lands on streets and shops below Granville Bridge

Debris from the Granville Bridge has been falling onto the streets and shops of Granville Island recently, with another incident reported this month.

The City of Vancouver says debris was found on July 9, and it was reported to the city three days later.

The general manager of the Creekhouse building, David R. McCann, says the issue has been affecting businesses for years.

“They have interfered with our businesses, broken skylights, they damaged our roof, and they dropped stuff like this on the ground all the time,” he said. “You can’t get access into stores, it interferes with deliveries.”

McCann says he’s seen steel, concrete chunks, and rusted metal fall off the bridge.

“They’re going to kill somebody … One of these days it’s going to hit somebody,” he said.

McCann says this has been happening for five or six years, and it makes him mad that nothing is being done. He says they used to use a big crane to inspect the bridge in the past, but that doesn’t happen anymore.

“It is a critical piece of infrastructure and it has to be maintained, but I don’t think the city has focused enough on how they can do it,” McCann said.

He says it is time that something is done about the issue.

This latest instance of debris comes after the City of Vancouver sued three contractors over work on the Granville Bridge this February, alleging the work was full of “deficiencies” and “defects.” That particular work took place between 2019 and 2021.

In February of this year, construction debris was thrown off the bridge, damaging parts of the Improv Centre at Granville Island.

-With files from Hector Docto.