Vancouver bridge concrete drops on bike path

City engineers in Vancouver were inspecting the Burrard Bridge on Friday morning after reports that chunks of concrete have been falling onto a bike path under the span.

Coun. Heather Deal said the city has known for years that the 80-year-old bridge is decaying, but reports of falling concrete on the south side of the bridge are relatively recent.

"We were surprised to hear that," Deal said Friday.

At least one of the pieces was about the size of a running shoe, but there have been no reports of injuries.

City council committed $30 million to fix the bridge, but repairs were delayed because of the recent bike-lane trial on the bridge and the Winter Olympics.

Work will begin on the bridge in the coming weeks, Deal said. In the meantime, the city will put safety measures in place.

"Our engineers are out there this morning and seeing if they need to hang some netting up, you know, what do they need to do to ensure safety while we get onto the work that we have on our work schedule already," Deal said.

The five-lane bridge with its iconic piers links downtown Vancouver across False Creek with the Kitsilano neighbourhood. Construction of the bridge began in 1930 and was completed in 1932.

It is one of a few art deco bridges in the world and has been internationally recognized as a landmark historic structure.

In the summer of 2009, the city turned one vehicle lane into a bike lane after years of complaints about the safety of cycling on the elevated sidewalks.