A cement truck crash on Highway 1 close to the Second Narrows Bridge added to the chaos faced by commuters to and from the North Shore Thursday evening.
Vancouver police and fire crews responded to the crash on the eastbound McGill Street off-ramp to the highway just before 2 p.m.
Vancouver Fire Assistant Chief Sheldon Young said there were only minor injuries.
Police initially closed the ramp to all traffic. DriveBC later clarified that the roadway was reduced to one lane.
The eastbound lanes were finally reopened just before 10:30 p.m.
As crews continued to clean up that crash, another incident on Highway 1 west of Westview Drive in North Vancouver blocked eastbound traffic and slowed westbound traffic even further just before 7 p.m.
That incident was finally cleared around 9:30 p.m.
The crashes also impacted transit service during the evening rush hour.
The District of West Vancouver tweeted that heavy traffic on the North Shore had led to delays of 45 to 75 minutes on all Blue Bus routes.
Blue Bus is operated by a different company than Coast Mountain Bus Company, which is at the centre of a prolonged transit strike that entered its seventh day Thursday.
That strike saw 16 SeaBus cancellations Thursday, four of which impacted the afternoon commute with another eight planned for the evening.