A recent inspection of six bridges with similar designs to one that collapsed last year shortly after its opening has found that five of them should have weight restrictions for safety reasons.
The ministry is working with Saskatchewan rural municipalities to restrict weight or close the roadways containing the bridges until improvements or remedial work can be completed.
These weight restrictions affect a bridge in the RM of Caledonia, the RM of Mervin and the RM of Scott as well as two bridges in the RM of Perdue. Some of these bridges impact heavy haul routes throughout the province, including one alternate truck route and one “Clearing the Path” corridor.
Following the collapse of a newly-constructed bridge in the RM of Clayton last fall, an engineering firm conducted an inspection and structural assessment of bridges known to have similar design and construction. According to a Ministry of Highways news release issued Friday, “preliminary findings recommend that five of the six bridges be weight restricted to carry less than secondary weights.”
In September 2018, a roughly 15-foot span of a bridge in Clayton fell into a river on the day it was opened to traffic. The bridge, which had just been completed, crossed the Swan River just west of Swan Plain. No one was injured in the incident.
