Van wedged in bridge due to ‘misunderstanding’
Contractor was working on camera at Queenston St. span
A seaway authority investigation has found a “misunderstanding” between a van driver and a bridge operator led to a construction vehicle being wedged in the Homer Bridge in St. Catharines earlier this month.
The incident on July 17 saw a parked red construction van get stuck front-end first in the gap between the roadway and the raised bridge on Queenston Street, causing ship traffic to be halted on the Welland Canal through the city.
St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. spokesman Andrew Bogora said Tuesday the empty van, belonging to a contractor doing maintenance on the bridge cameras, slid down the bridge as the span was partially raised and got stuck at the edge of the west span.
Bogora said the bridge operator, working from the operations control centre on Glendale Avenue, had been in communications with the van operator at Homer Bridge before the bridge was raised.
That verbal discussion, though, led to a misunderstanding about the van’s actual position on the bridge. The mistaken conclusion was that the van had been moved off the portion of the bridge that was about to be raised.
“The two of them believed that the van was now secure and that the span could be raised without any issue,” Bogora said.
“It’s fair to say the two of them communicated, but, yes, there was a misunderstanding.”
Normally, bridge operators do a visual check of canal bridges from the operations centre before raising them.
But because the contractor was on the Homer Bridge at the time to work on the camera, the seaway authority had to adopt a different strategy and have workers on the bridge talk with the operator.
“For any typical day, there is always, always a visual confirmation before any bridge is raised,” Bogora said. “This was a very exceptional day in terms of the contractor on the scene working on the camera and, consequently, that’s why there was verbal communication between the van operator and the bridge operator.”
Bogora said as with any incident, St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. thoroughly reviewed the case and identified enhancements to ensure that a similar incident doesn’t happen again.
No one was in the van at the time it slid down the bridge and there were no injuries. Once the van was removed from the gap, it was driven away without the need for a tow truck but had damage to the windshield.
Bogora didn’t know whose insurance company would be picking up the tab.
“It certainly would be a unique set of paperwork.”