Driver charged in Whoop-Up Drive bridge incident; crews assessing damages

Lethbridge police have charged a semi-truck driver for failing to navigate the height of the Whoop-Up Drive bridge, causing significant damage.

A charge has been laid after a semi-truck collided with the underside of the Whoop-Up Drive bridge on Wednesday morning.

Lethbridge police say a semi-truck with a flatbed loaded with two excavating vehicles was travelling to a construction site on the west side but made a wrong turn into Indian Battle Park.

The semi-truck continued down Botterill Bottom Road South, striking the bridge girders and causing significant damage to the equipment and bridge.

Police closed the eastbound and westbound lanes of Whoop-Up Drive for several hours while officers, City of Lethbridge crews and engineers investigated.

Part of the road reopened later in the morning.

Police have charged the driver of the semi-truck with failing to ascertain sufficient space for movement.

Additional charges are pending.

Damage assessment ongoing

In an update on Thursday afternoon, the City of Lethbridge said it is still assessing the situation to determine the total damage to the bridge.

“We’re just taking the pictures and also doing the measurements and the assessment in order to send that back to one of the persons that is involved who’s well-recognized in North America on the bridge side,” said Joel Sanchez, director of infrastructure services with the City of Lethbridge.

“We know there is damage; we don’t know the extent of the damage.”

Sanchez said it could take several days for the report to be complete, which will help determine the necessary repairs and next steps.

“When this happened, we were lucky enough that we were doing the work at the bridge and we already had people from Volker Stevin and AECOM that were doing the work, and we actually had one of the structural engineers coming to the site yesterday,” he said.

In the meantime, traffic on Whoop-Up Drive has resumed.

Starting Thursday, the following adjustments to traffic flow are expected:

• The loop from northbound Scenic Drive onto Whoop-Up Drive will be reopened;
• Westbound 6th Avenue onto Whoop-Up Drive will be reopened;
• There will be zipper-merge locations for westbound traffic, as motorists from 6th Avenue and the northbound Scenic Drive off-ramp merge;
• That traffic will then merge with traffic from the southbound Scenic Drive off-ramp; and
• Eastbound Whoop-Up Drive lanes will be adjusted by moving the inside lane closure closer to the bridge.

“At this point, the lanes that we have open on the bridge are safe,” said Sanchez.

“We’ve taken all the measures that we can in order to ensure that visual inspections and even some different measures are being put in place to assess daily what the progress is and the damage that is present under the bridge.”

But he said that could change once the report and assessment are complete.

He said crews will continue to monitor the bridge and make any changes they deem necessary.

He also said these types of incidents are not common.

“They happen,” said Sanchez.

“I mean, there are probably a handful across the province, based on what we talked to the expert about who was here yesterday, but again, it’s hard to predict, and when they do happen, sometimes they can have significant consequences.

“We don’t know where we are at now. We know there is damage, but that damage is being assessed.”