Bridge collapses into a river in Canada: Failure caught on camera

A steel truss bridge situated near Canso, a community in Guysborough County, Canada, collapsed into a river.

The failure occurred on July 7, 2020. The so-known as Tittle Bridge connected the community of Canso with Durrell's Island where eleven families live permanently.

The structure suddenly gave way and debris fell into the river below, when being bypassed by a truck loaded with equipment and carrying a crane. The truck was carrying supplies for the replacement of the bridge which was scheduled to start soon. “The bridge wasn’t in good shape, that’s why they were replacing it. It’s been around as long as I remember,” a local, stated.

In fact, the Tittle Bridge was constructed 70 years ago. Demolitions works would have begun on the same day that the structure collapsed.

Fortunately, there were no casualties associated with the collapse, however, the driver of the truck dived into the water and was hospitalized later as a precaution. 

The failure causes are under investigation but, it is highly probable that the load of the truck and the crane caused the bridge to fail. According to reports, the bridge had a maximum load capacity of around 410kN while the truck carrying the crane and the equipment may have imposed a load of up to 560kN, leading to failure. "For the life of me, I don't understand why they would drive the equipment across on the float at the same time. But that call was made by the contractor," Vernon Pitts, the warden of the Municipality of the District of Guysborough, stated. 

Regarding the assessment of failure conditions, Pitts suggested that a third party should handle the inspection so that the evaluation will take place with a certain degree of impartiality. "Maybe we should be looking at independent evaluation on these bridges rather than the fox in charge of the chickens. Policing yourself is not the way to do business," Pitts said.

Currently, according to the Nova Scotia Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal, people that need to reach the mainland are aided by the local fire department as alternatives to establish a route to the island are examined. As a provisional measure, people use small boats to access the mainland but, a temporary bridge facility will be established within the next days.

The bridge failure was caught on camera. Click the video below to watch the impressive footage.

Sources: Atlantic.ctvnews, Globalnews, Saltwire, CBC