Buses crossing Burrard Bridge left with popped tires

The anchor bolts used in construction repairs on the Burrard Bridge in Vancouver popped the tires of several buses on Wednesday.

The City of Vancouver told Global News steel plates have been installed to allow traffic to travel over the bridge joints that are being replaced as part of maintenance work.

The steel plates are anchored to the bridge to keep them in place.

On Wednesday, it was found that bus traffic travelling over the plates caused some of the anchors to rise up and pop about 20 bus tires. No cars were impacted.

The city says they have now switched to a different anchor type that can handle a greater capacity of traffic, and there have been no issues since switching to the new anchors.

Officials say the bridge remains safe for vehicles to travel across.

TransLink spokeswoman Jiana Ling says bus routes No.2, 22, and 44 have been affected by the incident.

“They are being re-routed to Granville Street Bridge,” says Ling. “All affected spots will have signage so that customers know where to go… Customers may experience five-to-10-minute delays on their regular route because of the re-route.”

Ling says they have no estimated time of when the re-route will be over, but the city says the issue has been resolved and their contractor will work over the weekend to get buses back on the bridge.

She says they do not know what the extent of damage to their buses is, but city says any damage to TransLink’s buses will be covered by the contractor’s insurance.

The 81-year-old Burrard Bridge is set to undergo maintenance and infrastructure upgrades that will involve lane reductions between March and July.