Lanes have been cleared, but the dust has not settled after the recent crash on the Burlington Skyway Bridge.
The July 31 mishap was the result of a dump truck, with its box raised, smashing into an overhead truss and scaffolding on the bridge, five metres above the structure.
Traffic chaos ensued over the following weekend in the Toronto-bound lanes — that sees up to 80,000 vehicles per day. To make matters worse, the incident occurred while Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation (MTO), who owns the bridge, was having pavement repairs done on it.
"We had more than 100 tones of asphalt trucked in to repair the pavement following this incident ," said MTO Spokesperson, Astrid Poei.
The lanes re-opened the following Monday after temporary repair and MTO is awaiting the delivery of a steel beam to permanently repair the damage.
The driver of the truck, Sukhvinder Singh Rai, 34, of Brampton, Ont. has been charged with impaired driving in connection with the crash.
Rai had been working for Peel Transport as a driver for only two-months prior to the accident.
"We really apologize for the commuters and are really sad. It’s a big thing that happened here," said Raj Sidhu, Peel Transport Manager.
"If impairment was suspected, employees would not even come close to my trucks."
Highway Safety Division Ontario Provincial Police Sergeant, Kerry Schmidt, said the driver of the truck had dumped a load of material shortly before the collision.
Meanwhile, under the Highway Traffic Act, MTO is responsible for covering the repair costs, that are expected to add up to, "hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions," according to Poei.
"Lane reductions will be done overnight and repairs as soon as possible," she said.
To resolve the matter, Peel Transport’s insurance and the OPP (Ontario Provincial Police) continue to investigate.
One main point of the investigation is concluding why the box was raised when the truck was under operation and approaching the bridge.
The bridge is equipped with height sensors that alert drivers with flashing lights when their vehicles are too tall. However, they did not go off, which indicates the box was not erected until the truck was on the overpass’ incline.
"It will be two months or so until the permanent beam is manufactured and installed, said Poei.
"As you can imagine, this is going to be a costly endeavour."
If the damage exceeds $200,000, the individual, not the company, will be held accountable according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada. However the individual would have to be sued for a judgement to get registered against them and retrieving the money has its own complications.
If found guilty of driving under the influence, the driver may be forced to claim bankruptcy or have his wages garnished if the party is not terminated by the employer, indicate experts.
"It’s just fortunate that no one was seriously injured or killed. This was a very serious collision," said Schmidt.
Rai will appear in court on August 22.
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