Posted on 01/10/2016 6:53:47 PM PST by Hieronymus
A newly constructed bridge in northern Ontario has heaved apart, indefinitely closing the Trans-Canada highway — the only road connecting Eastern and Western Canada.
The Nipigon River Bridge has been closed for "an indefinite time due to mechanical issues," according to the Ontario Provincial Police. The bridge remains open to pedestrian traffic.
The west side of the bridge has pulled away from the abutment connecting it to the river bank's edge, lifting up about 60 centimetres.
As a result, police have shut down Highways 11 and 17 at the bridge, which is located about 100 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, Ont.
The estimated duration of the closure is "uncertain" with police noting it could be "possibly days."
"It's not just us. It's all of Canada that has a problem right now," Nipigon Mayor Richard Harvey told CBC News. "This is the one place in Canada where there is only one road, one bridge across the country." ======================================== Harvey added that police quickly started to stop people heading out on the Trans-Canada Highway at larger Ontario centres like Sault Ste. Marie, Thunder Bay and Terrace Bay, telling them to turn back or use an alternate route through the U.S.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbc.ca ...
It’s sort of weird to realize that there’s almost nothing but trees, lakes, and rocks north of that highway all the way to the North Pole.
Living about 40 minutes south of the highway, I don’t think it weird at all. Long nights, a short growing season (you can’t count on even three months between first and last frost), harsh weather, and largely poor soil make it rather inhospitable. Timber, mining, hunting, and fishing. If you aren’t going to a spot specifically for one of those activities, there is no need to venture all that far from the highway because there isn’t a great demand for land.
I like it, but it isn’t easy, and I can sort of see why many Canadians prefer the city, and why many people would prefer warmer climates.
But at least all my kids above the age of six are bookworms.
Yes. One part dropped. That was the idea.. not the whole thing going down taking dozens of people to their deaths.
That is the new Oakland Bay bridge eastern span. That old bridge is the picture served well for decades — it just wasn’t pretty.
I thought that it was just one.. but the point is the bridge was designed to do that— not collapse in large sections or totally.
Yes it was a tragedy but from the discussions I’ve heard about the bridge it was designed to fail as shown and not take many motorist to their deaths by falling in large pieces.
Looks like this bridge could use the weight of that truckload of bottled water the lady truckdriver drove over that small bridge last week. ;-)
the concern now is that if any part of the new bridge fails it all goes down -- and now there are construction and material problems being found on the new bridge.
I've read in the Wikipedia article that it almost did.
“I thought that it was just one.. but the point is the bridge was designed to do that— not collapse in large sections or totally.”
The problem with the section of the upper roadway falling down was the fact that it had one end that was fixed and the other end that allowed movement to take care of expansion and contraction. When the bridge moved under the influence of the earthquake, the end that allowed movement exceeded it’s limit and fell. It ended up like a steep ramp and several cars drove off and those that did all died. The problem with the suspension portion of the new span is that they let the Chinese build some of it, and CalTrans didn’t adequately inspect some of the work as it was performed. Now there are some large strain rods that have failed plating so they can now corrode, and they are not where they can be replaced. Other than that, the bridge is beautiful. Drove across it yesterday.
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