Mayor Dean Fortin said council will have to decide whether to repair the rail section of the bridge or close it permanently a few months earlier than expected.

"When you receive a formal written document by the Engineer of Record saying, 'Mr. Mayor, this bridge is not safe for rail traffic. You need to close it today.' You act on that," Fortin said.

B.C.'s minister of Transportation and Infrastructure has ordered B.C. Transit to undergo an independent third-party review.

"It will examine the transit-system operations and performance, governance and local government consultation and communication processes, as well," Blair Lekstrom said Wednesday.

In recent months, mayors throughout the province banded together to lobby the province for the review, amidst their growing concern that the Crown corporation cannot be counted on for transparency, accountability and adequate communication.

"(The review) is a significant step," said Saanich Mayor Frank Leonard, who was among several mayors and municipal staff members who raised their concerns with Lekstrom in September.

"People can really go in and see how we vote on a consistent basis. Right now, we only record negative votes and this way, if every vote is recorded, somebody could literally in the future type in Dean Fortin and see every vote I've ever made on any subject. ... So it's not just how you vote leading up to an election but how you voted for the last three years."  Open-data policies have been enacted in jurisdictions including Ottawa, Edmonton, Toronto, Vancouver, Nanaimo and Surrey .

B.C. Transit analysis has found light rail to be the best option over conventional transit or rapid buses in dedicated lanes. But light rail is the most expensive to build. "We must have the province and the feds in," Victoria Mayor Dean Fortin said at the transit commission meeting. "They have to be in to make this project a reality. If they are in, we will make this project a reality."