It may seem incredible to most, but there is only a single roadway linking eastern Canada to western Canada.
Now, a bridge which carries all traffic on the Trans-Canada Highway, designated in the province of Ontario as Highways 11 and 17, has heaved due to the cold and a strong wind and has cut that link. An expansion joint on the bridge deck was pulled up about 60 centimetres in one area preventing any traffic from getting through.
The bridge crosses the Nipigon River about 100 kilometres northeast of the city of Thunder Bay.
The bridge was closed on the weekend in both directions shutting down traffic on Hwy 17, and the western portion of Hwy 11 and causing backups, especially of commercial trucks.
A witness said a strong wind came up from underneath and lifted the deck which then did not settle back fully.
Crews worked through the night to repair the bridge and as of this morning, limited traffic was crossing on one lane.
The recently built bridge, which currently handles both east and westbound traffice is part of a much larger plan to twin the roadway across the Nipigon river but will be designated for eastbound lanes only when the second bridge is completed in 2017.
This is the only cable-stayed bridge in Ontario. While the cold (-15C) would cause the cables to contract putting pressure on the deck to lift, other built-in features would counter that. Ice on the cables combined with strong wind gusts would have increased the pressures, but the bridge would still have been designed to cope with that. At this point it is not known what caused the failure.
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