WINNIPEG – A fire has temporarily halted work at a portion of one of Winnipeg’s biggest road construction projects.
Provincial officials issued a stop work order after a blaze broke out inside a huge hole at the Plessis Road underpass project at about 8:30 a.m.
Workers using a cutting torch ignited hay bales being used as insulation inside a deep excavation at the $77-million project to put an underpass at the CN Rail tracks north of the Plessis and Dugald Road intersection.
No one was hurt in the fire, but “Stop work and improvement orders were issued” by provincial officials, a spokesperson from the province told Global News in an email. It wasn’t immediately clear how long the order would be in effect.
“This morning’s fire is not expected to impact the project,” said City of Winnipeg spokesperson Michelle Finley in an email, adding that work at other parts of the underpass site is continuing.
Fire crews returned to the scene at about 2 p.m. to investigate hot spots at the scene of the morning blaze.
The project was originally supposed to open December 2014, but delayed until September 2015.
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