Ironworkers pothole creates hours-long delay on North Shore
Posted October 28, 2021 8:56 am.
Last Updated October 28, 2021 5:07 pm.
Major backups on the North Shore Wednesday were exacerbated by a pothole on the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge.
The gridlock spanned hours after crews were forced to close the centre lane to fix the hole in the morning.
— Housers (@housers_ca) October 28, 2021
As a result, backups were severe. Cars were seen lined up as far back as into the Lower Lonsdale area of North Vancouver.
But this isn’t an isolated incident — any time there’s even the slightest issue on the North Shore, traffic backups are more than likely.
"If it's paved on the North Shore, you're not going anywhere today!" – @DangerOnAir in the @CityNewsVAN Air Patrol #NorthVancouver #WestVancouver
— John Ackermann ???? (@jackermann) October 27, 2021
“This lasted much longer than I’m sure crews thought, as it began around 10:30 in the morning and lasted into the thick of the afternoon rush,” explained Ryan Lidemark from the CityNews 1130 Traffic Centre.
In a statement to CityNews, the Ministry of Transportation says it “acknowledges the inconvenience motorists experienced as a result” of the repair work on the bridge.
“The nature of the hole required an immediate repair, which was completed as quickly as possible after the ministry’s maintenance contractor was first made aware of the problem at approximately 10 a.m. Wednesday morning,” the emailed statement reads.
“Repair work required accessing the bridge deck from underneath the bridge, and was completed within about five hours.”
Many people took to social media to share their frustrations Wednesday, some saying they had barely moved in hours due to the traffic congestion.
Second Narrows bridge nightmare. Been on lower Rd. x2 hours. Pothole, new light. #idiotic #NorthVancouver @NSDailyPost @north_ndp @NVanDistrict @jjhorgan
— Christine (@lululevi) October 27, 2021
A colleague of mine who left just past 3:15 PM PST from our #NorthVancouver office still hasn't made it to the #IronworkersBridge. As of me typing this, it's now 5:23 PM PST. And managers/C-Level execs still want to drag staff back into the office?
Genius.#WorkFromHome #WFH pic.twitter.com/ajSXnrSbTc
— ReaktorField (@reaktor_field) October 28, 2021
Chaos gives local mayors another reason to demand transit upgrades
The District of North Vancouver’s Mike Little says he first heard about problems on the aging Ironworkers Memorial Bridge on Sunday.
“I am frustrated that people appeared to have noticed the emergence of the pothole as early as the weekend. So for it to take four days before it actually got addressed is very frustrating,” he told CityNews.
Little is calling on the public to report these incidents to the Ministry of Transportation of Highways as soon as they spot them, but he adds it’s hard for him to imagine that construction staff in the area didn’t see it emerging.
“It could have been dressed at nighttime, it could have been fixed at an earlier stage before it got to the size that it did. And instead, it took out an entire day and disrupted so many people.”
Little expects congestion to keep getting worse if rapid transit doesn’t expand to the North Shore.
“It’s the biggest issue facing our communities and really, the point of the North Shore Connects group is to sit down together with five local governments, two First Nations and three municipalities, all working together with a united voice to say that is the most significant thing impacting our communities right now.”
While the Ministry of Transportation staff admits the pothole repair work took longer than expected, Little points out that the bridge was built more than 60 years ago.
-With files from Claire Fenton
