It was chaos for commuters in the Fraser Valley Monday morning as two commercial vehicles struck overpasses on Highway 1.
In Abbotsford, police at the scene told Global News a truck driver’s front left tire blew out on Highway 1 going eastbound, causing the truck to lose control and hit the pillar for the No. 3 Road overpass.
The highway was closed westbound, along with the No. 3 Road overpass, but both have now reopened.
The truck also appears to have caught on fire and Abbotsford firefighters were called to put out the flames.
Police said in a tweet the driver is not injured and added it’s remarkable the driver of a fully-loaded rig was able to survive a collision while travelling at a speed of nearly 100 kilometres an hour.
“At this time, it appears one of the truck’s front tires of the vehicle, while traveling eastbound along Highway 1 blew, resulting in the driver losing control and entering the centre meridian and striking the highway overpass,” Sgt. Paul Walker with Abbotsford police said.
“This is not a criminal investigation. This is a very horrible day that, remarkably, resulted in no tragic loss of life.”
Meanwhile, in Langley, a piece of heavy equipment on a trailer hit the 264th Street overpass.
A large green metal can was seen resting against the concrete divider a short distance beyond the overpass in the westbound lane.
The incident caused a huge traffic backup during the morning commute.
Langley RCMP has not released any information at this point as to have the incident happened.
Between December 2021 and March 2023, there have been 15 overpasses hit in the Lower Mainland, mainly due to overheight vehicles.
More to come.