Charges pending after semi becomes stuck on High Level Bridge

A semi truck became wedged in the High Level Bridge, closing it temporarily before it was removed.

Charges are pending after a semi became wedged inside the High Level Bridge on Wednesday, forcing the bridge to close for about two hours.

The Edmonton Police Service responded to the scene at 10:30 a.m.

The truck had been removed by 12:15 p.m., and the bridge had reopened by 12:30 p.m.

The lower deck of the High Level Bridge where vehicles travel has a clearance of 3.2 metres, or 10.6 feet.

Buses can pass over the bridge with just centimetres to spare.

Signs leading up to the bridge warn truck drivers to avoid the bridge, but there is a decades-long history of drivers ignoring the signs, including five incidents last year.

In December, the province announced higher fines could be coming for trucks that hit bridges.

The current fine is $10,000, Minister of Transportation Devin Dreeshen told The Canadian Press, but the government is considering increasing that figure.

The province is also phasing in a policy that will require truckers to produce a driver’s abstract when they try to switch jobs.

“If you get laid off by the company that you’re working for because you hit a bridge, when you go work for a different company or a different company’s looking to hire you, they can see that you’ve been on the naughty list and that you’ve hit a bridge in the past,” Dreeshen said in December.

“You won’t be able to hide as much as was done in the past.”

The province is also looking at granting the provincial motor vehicle registrar new powers to suspend or confiscate driver’s licences.

With files from The Canadian Press