This is not a big news story, and fortunately in this case no-one was seriously injured, but crashing through bridges strangely seems to happen with surprising regularity. Sometimes it seems it could have been preventable.
The latest incident happened in the northeastern corner of Nova Scotia near the town of Canso. There one can find ( or used to find) a small, aging steel truss bridge linking the mainland to Durrell’s Island.
The bridge was getting on in years and it was decided it needed replacement. A contractor was hired and was moving equipment onto the island to begin the process.
Here’s where the simple arithmetic comes in which one might have thought would require greater reflection on the part of the contractor, or someone in charge.
The bridge had a rated maximum capacity of 41,500 kg.
A search of typical tractor /trailer combinations of this type on the internet reveals empty weights of roughly 14,000-18,000 kg, The excavator is a Terex HC80 which is listed on the company’s website at just under 40,000 kg.
A statement yesterday from the Nova Scotia Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal (TIR) read “The cause of the incident has yet to be determined.”.
A temporary crossing is to be arranged quickly for the dozen families on the island
In 2018 an historic covered bridge in New Brunswick, one of the few such heritage bridges remaining, had to be taken down after a similar incident. Repairs were to be made to the 1912 era bridge when heavy equipment crashed through the road bed of the bridge. It could not be restored and a modern bridge was built in its place.
One of New Brunswick’s dwindling heritage covered bridges had to replaced with a modern structure when an excavator carrying a heavy load of lumber crashed through the decking. The bridge had been rated for 12 tonnes, the excavator without the load of lumber weighed 13 tonnes. (Dean and Tamara Wilson-Facebook)
It was listed as having a maximum load capacity of 12 tonnes. The excavator a Caterpillar 312C is listed as weighing just over 13 tonnes. Adding to that was the load of heavy wooden beams it was carrying to be used as replacements for the decking. The bridge floor collapsed underneath the excavator almost as soon as it entered the structure.
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