History
The bridge was built to replace an obsolete span linking the south end of Fraser Street with No. 5 Road in Richmond via Mitchell Island. The Fraser Street Bridge was a through truss built in 1905 with a swing span on the northern side of Mitchell Island. The channel was difficult to navigate, making collisions with ships and barges routine. The height of the Knight Street bridge alleviated this problem.
The construction of the Knight Street Bridge took 5 years, costing about $15 million including the approaches. Electric heating cables were installed in the deck to minimize the use of de-icing salt in the winter. The bridge also carries a water pipe and a gas pipe, with the former being the only water supply to Mitchell Island at the time. The bridge opened on January 15, 1974, and the Fraser Street Bridge was dismantled the next month.
On January 15, 2000 the boom of a mobile crane transported on a barge named T.L. Sharpe, towed by the Sea Cap XII, struck the underside of the Knight Street Bridge at 1:45 PM, damaging the bridge and the fixtures secured underneath its deck. The impact caused the boom to bend and the crane to slide off the barge and sink, and the bridge was closed to traffic for about 48 hours. Water supply to Mitchell Island via the bridge was shut down for 25 days, and an emergency bypass water supply from Vancouver was installed. The incident prompted the City of Richmond to install a second water main to Mitchell Island in 2002.
Read more about this topic: Knight Street Bridge
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