IS IT A ‘HOLE’ OR A ‘DIP’?
Bypass overpass safety concerns
The provincial NDP is accusing the Saskatchewan government of ignoring structural problems with the Regina bypass after residents noticed a spot where soil had eroded from under a new overpass.
The NDP calls the space at the eastbound overpass on the Trans-Canada Highway at Tower Road a “hole.” The government calls it a “dip.”
“We’ve long asked the minister of highways ‘Are there any problem areas within the bypass itself ?’ and he’s never indicated any challenges to us in the assembly,” said Buckley Belanger, NDP highways and infrastructure critic.
“Today now we’re finding that there are some significant issues with the base being eroded in certain areas of the bypass.”
Balgonie resident Jesse Edwards, who has been outspoken about bypass concerns in his community, said a “concerned citizen” noticed the hole and alerted him. He and some others went to check it out with a flashlight and recorded their findings with a cellphone.
“What we saw was there was actually a hole at one point on the top of the overpass. Underneath it, there was a large cavern approximately five feet in,” he said.
Fred Antunes, deputy minister of highways and infrastructure, said there is no hole, but only a dip. He said this is a common problem for bridges in the Regina area because of the soil type.
“Once you put additional weight on top of the soil that’s underneath, you do get some consolidation of the underlying materials over time, and it becomes a maintenance issue,” he said.
Regina Bypass Design Builders (RBDB) are aware of the issue and are responsible for fixing it, said Antunes. He attributed the washout to water run-off flowing from the road over the embankment.
“Water tends to find its own path,” he said, noting the goal then is to find out if something needs to be done to get the water going where it was intended to go.
Edwards wants to see the issue fixed immediately, and said that although he’s no engineer he thinks a “cavern” like that under the road could potentially lead to the road collapsing.
Belanger had the same concern. “When you have a significant failure in the base of a highway and a bridge, where you’ve seen the base being eroded, then you’re going to see the pavement collapse,” he said. “It’s not going to be an easy fix.”
Antunes does not think the issue poses a safety risk. “It’s not a safety concern. (RBDB will) go out and make the repairs,” he said. He wasn’t sure when repairs would take place.
Edwards is concerned the government is letting safety standards slip.
“If safety is their No. 1 concern, how did they allow this to be here for three weeks without addressing it?” he said. “It’s finally just being brought to somebody’s attention now.”
Belanger said that, for the amount of money the bypass is costing, the project should not be having these types of issues.