As residents of Vancouver prepare to bid a sad farewell to the English Bay Barge (or gleeful GTFO, depending on your view), an official English Bay Barge website has popped up.
Somehow, after all these months, EnglishBayBarge.ca was left open and so the group behind the impending removal of the iconic red wood chip barge (officially called SMT-5000) has built a site to keep the public up-to-date with the barge's deconstruction.
"The barge is structurally unsound, cannot be refloated and will be deconstructed on site," states a message on the website. "Preparation for the deconstruction is complex and involves consultation with multiple stakeholders and subject matter experts. Planning is underway and includes safety, security, habitat and environmental protections and assessments."
It'll be removed by local company Vancouver Pile Driving, which is working with a variety of government agencies like the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation and Coast Guard along with Sentry Marine Towing's representatives. Locals will actually be able to buy a piece, though most of the barge will be hauled to a scrap heap in the US.
The website will provide updates about progress and plans, once those are in place, but as of March 8 they're still being made. The plan to cut up and haul the barge away piece-by-piece was announced Feb. 6.
