A man has been transported to hospital following a single-vehicle crash that occurred on the Brilliant Bridge on Wednesday morning, according to the Castlegar Fire Department.
Fire chief Sam Lattanzio stated the incident occurred at about 7:30 a.m.
“The driver is extremely fortunate that the railing did what it’s designed to do and keep him on the bridge,” Lattanzio. “If he would’ve went through that, it would’ve been a long way down to the river.”
The crash severely damaged a portion of the railing and the vehicle. The damaged railing has since been taped off by authorities.
A tire that was torn off the truck could be seen approximately 200 metres from the crash scene.
Traffic was backed-up heading southbound along Highway 3A and fire crews worked hard to reroute motorists from the bridge.
“For the most part, we were able to let most of the traffic through that was heading northbound on the bridge towards Nelson,” said Lattanzio.
“The rest of the traffic that was heading southbound along Highway 3A had to be redirected through Brilliant.”
There have been past incidents on the bridge, according to Lattanzio.
“There are two other similar crashes that I’m aware of that have occurred on the bridge,” said Lattanzio.
“There was also another crash on the Kinnaird Bridge years ago where the driver went through the railing and died.”
A Castlegar cyclist also suffered non-life threatening injuries after he struck a car on the Kinnaird Bridge in June.
The bridge has since reopened to traffic.
The cause of the collision in under investigation by RCMP and the driver is expected to survive.
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connor.trembley@castlegarnews.com
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