UPDATE: Shortly after 9 a.m. on March 5, 2025, the RCMP provided an update and said the westbound lanes of the Sherwood Park Freeway had been reopened. Police said northbound and southbound vehicle traffic on 34 Street was limited to a single lane in both directions with no dedicated turning lane. Speed on 34 Street had been reduced to 30 km/h in both directions.
A freeway overpass on Edmonton’s eastern outskirts was damaged when it was hit by a load being hauled by a semi-truck.
The collision on the Sherwood Park Freeway happened at the 34 Street overpass and led to delays and closures on Tuesday.
Strathcona County RCMP said officers were called to the collision at the Sherwood Park Freeway late Monday, where a semi-truck carrying a heavy load of logging equipment hit an overpass at 34 Street, “causing extensive damage.”
Const. James Kendrick with the Edmonton Police Service spoke to Global News at the scene and said the truck was hauling an excavator.
“This will create significant delays,” he said. “This is a very busy roadway.
“It’s going to be a big pain for Edmonton.”
The 34 Street overpass was closed in both directions as a result, and westbound traffic into Edmonton from Sherwood Park was affected. Eventually, westbound traffic was diverted to the on and off ramps for the overpass to get around the damaged section.
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The excavator appeared to hit every girder under the bridge deck, where cracks could be seen and chunks of concrete missing.
Kendrick said engineers were looking at the structural integrity of the overpass but did not indicate how long that would take or how long traffic may be disrupted.
“They need to deem it safe before any vehicles can travel over it or under it.”
Later, police said a Volker Stevin engineer showed up to assess the damage to the 34 Street bridge and it will remain closed indefinitely.
It is not the first time something like this has happened in Edmonton in recent years: in June 2023, a semi hauling an excavator slammed into the underside of the Whitemud Drive overpass at Anthony Henday Drive in east Edmonton.
The excavator hit several girders, breaking away concrete and exposing rebar. Traffic at the site has been impacted ever since, due to lane closures both along Whitemud Drive eastbound over the Henday into Strathcona County and along the offramp.
That damage is still being fixed.
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