Safety concerns raised about bridge in Sicamous, B.C. following multi-vehicle crash – Okanagan | Globalnews.ca

The mayor of Sicamous B.C., is raising safety concerns about the Bruhn Bridge on Highway 1 in Sicamous, following a multi-vehicle crash that left the area with extensive damage.

“This is not the first time this has happened. This has happened before and so what’s really concerning is one of these days it might be a fuel truck that ends up in the lake, and who knows, it could end up on a pleasure boat, it could end up on a houseboat,” said Mayor Terry Rysz.

“I mean, it could be catastrophic what could happen here.”

According to Rysz, the bridge lacks a way for pedestrians to cross safely with the number of commercial vehicles on the road, leaving little space for them to walk. It’s also a narrow bridge, he says, making it difficult for the high volumes of traffic to move through on a daily basis.

Cement pieces have also begun breaking off the bridge, which Rysz says is an accident waiting to happen.

“It’s in really bad shape. I have a piece of cement that came off of this bridge. We had another piece of cement that came off the bridge a few years ago and fell on a boat and it put a big dent in the boat, luckily nobody was hurt by that,” he said.

“The bridge is old and the bridge needs to be replaced.”

Mayor and council have been in discussions with the Ministry of Transportation to come up with a plan to either repair or replace the bridge as soon as possible.

“We got to get this bridge fixed, we’ve been doing this dance now for 10, 12 years, maybe even 20 years,” said Rysz.

“The Ministry of Transportation has to get shovels in the ground and get this bridge replaced and they got to do it sooner or later for the safety of our people here, the safety of the people on the Trans-Canada highway.”

With the bridge being around 70 years old, Rysz says it’s time for improvements.

The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure says the crash caused no structural damage to the bridge itself, calling it ‘safe.’

They said, “Yesterday’s collision damaged several sections of railing. The damaged railing will be replaced. Work is ongoing to brace the damaged railing temporarily. Speeds on the bridge are reduced to 30 km/h during repairs.”

At this time there is no estimated timeline on when the repairs will be completed. There is also no word yet on the extent of any injuries sustained in the crash that caused the damage.