When a collision closes the Malahat, it鈥檚 a severe inconvenience for travellers on the Trans-sa国际传媒 Highway. When a bridge fails 3,200 kilometres to the east on the same highway, the country is split in half.
A new bridge over the Nipigon River in northern Ontario heaved apart Sunday, severing the only link between Eastern and Western sa国际传媒. The west side of the bridge pulled away from the abutment connecting it to the river bank鈥檚 edge, lifting up about 60 centimetres. Apparently, cold weather was a factor. (Cold weather in northern Ontario? Who knew?)
Witnesses described pickup trucks flying over the gap and crashing down on their front ends, but no one was injured.
The Nipigon River Bridge was in the midst of a $106-million twinning project in which the old structure will be replaced with two identical, two-lane expanses. The project is expected to be completed in 2017.
The Trans-sa国际传媒 is the only route across northern Ontario. Without that bridge, freight and travellers headed from one side of the country to the other would have to make a long detour into the U.S.
By Monday, emergency repairs allowed one lane of the bridge to re-open to passenger cars and some trucks. Engineers are trying to determine if the repairs can support the weight of oversize loads. Authorities cannot yet say when the bridge will be fully functional.
It makes the occasional Malahat closure seem minor by comparison.
On the other hand, the City of Victoria might soon have reason to envy anyone getting a new four-lane bridge for a mere $106 million.
