Bridge repairs underway

Replacement of a damaged wooden box culvert along Route 14 in St. Lawrence could take two to three weeks to complete, a transportation official said Wednesday.

The work started Tuesday. The province closed Route 14, between the Centre Line Road and Union Road, to through traffic Tuesday, after a vehicle crashed into a depression that had formed over the old culvert.

The driver of the car, Lloyd Ellsworth, was taken by ambulance to Prince County Hospital in Summerside where he was checked over and released.

Reached Wednesday, Ellsworth said he has been in touch with a lawyer who is looking into filing a claim with the provincial government for his injuries and the damage to his car.

He said the impact of the collision wrote off his 2012 Kia Forte.

The provincial government is self-insured, and claims are handled through Risk Management and Insurance.

Transportation personnel set up pylons on the shoulder of the road on either side of the box culvert Monday night and painted Xs on the road where a bump was forming.

Ron Ryder, a spokesman with the department, was unsure how much of a look personnel were able to get into the culvert Monday night and he had no comment on a report that damage to the culvert was made known to the department three weeks prior.