One lane of the Westside Road overpass on Highway 97 has been closed after being struck by a truck that was too big to fit beneath.
The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure said that the outside lane of the overhead structure will remain closed until the repairs are completed.
“The design for repairs to the structure is underway,” reads the ministry statement. “The timeframe for completing the repairs will be determined once the design is complete.”
Damage to the overpass was incurred Oct. 3, when a MJI contracting Inc. vehicle with an excavator onboard clipped the overpass.
The ministry said that at the scene, violation tickets totaling $483 were issued.
“Commercial Vehicle Safety Enforcement’s investigation of the carrier following this incident resulted in further charges of $725, for a total of $1,208 charged to this carrier in relation to this incident,” the ministry statement read.
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“In addition, the carrier was suspended for ten days, while this investigation was underway, during which time all of the carrier’s vehicles were taken off the road.”
Overpasses being hit are an increasing issue in the Lower Mainland, much to the frustration of highway officials.
Last month, Transportation Minister Rob Fleming said drivers have no excuse for these collisions given that there are a variety of safety tools relating to overpass height.
“We have made it simpler, more instantaneous, more reliable. DriveBC has a height clearance tool that is absolutely easy for any driver to have downloaded on their phone,” he said.
“It’s never been easier to comply, it’s never been easier to use our highways safely, and yet we have had 10 overpass strikes in a year, and we need to get that down to zero.”
Fleming said the vast majority of the trucking industry is responsible on the roads and supportive of greater enforcement, and that the province is preparing to implement stiffer fines.
– with files Simon Little