Weight restrictions have been placed on five bridges around Saskatchewan after a series of structural assessments were done.
Two bridges in the rural municipality of Perdue are affected, as is one bridge in each of the RMs of Caledonia, Mervin and Scott. All of the bridges are on RM roads, not provincial highways.
The Perdue bridges are on Township Road 364 and Range Road 3110, both crossing Eagle Creek.
In the RM of Scott, Farr Bridge over the Souris River on Primary Grid 621 is affected. In the RM of Caledonia, the weight limit on a bridge over the Moose Jaw Creek on Township Road 114 has been altered. And in the RM of Mervin, Bellanger Bridge over the Turtlelake River on Township Road 502 is affected.
The restrictions were placed on those bridges after an engineering firm inspected six bridges in the province. The structural assessments were called for after a newly constructed bridge in the RM of Clayton collapsed just hours after it opened in September.
After that collapse, the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM) and Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure commissioned inspections of bridges that had similar designs to the one in Clayton.
According to a media release issued by the government, the Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure “is working with the rural municipalities to weight restrict or close the roadways containing these bridges until appropriate improvements or remedial work can be completed.”
The previous weight limits on the five bridges varied, but two were on heavy-haul routes. One of the bridges was on an Alternate Truck Route and another was on a Clearing the Path corridor.