Collisions tie up city traffic well into Wednesday evening
By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on June 29, 2023.
Herald photo by Al Beeber
A truck and trailer unit sits parked across Whoop-Up Drive Wednesday after the trailer portion tipped just before the bridge deck.LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com
A late afternoon mishap in the westbound lanes of Whoop-Up Drive just before the bridge snarled traffic for hours on Wednesday.
Around 4:15 p.m. a flatbed trailer carrying equipment appeared to jackknife across the lanes landing on its side, blocking westbound lanes which were filled with traffic heading home after work.
Some vehicles managed to get around the wreckage and the turned-around heavy duty Ford truck. Two occupants of the vehicle were seen immediately afterwards moving equipment parts out of the way.
By early evening all lanes were still blocked off, causing massive traffic jams on 6 Ave. S., by Park Place Mall and on Scenic Drive heading northbound.
Westbound traffic on 6 Ave. S. was being rerouted north along 5 St.
A second collision involving multiple vehicles on the westbound lanes of Highway 3 at the Oldman River bridge compounded problems for drivers.
LPS released a statement on Twitter just after 6 p.m. stating “police are continuing to deal with collisions in the westbound lanes of both Whoop-Up Drive and Crowsnest Trail. There are significant traffic delays as a result. Police are working to reopen the roadways as quickly as possible.”
Westbound lanes of Crowsnest Trail opened just before 7 p.m. but as of 7:30 p.m. the westbound lanes of Whoop-Up Drive were still closed. One frustrated driver told the Herald there had been virtually no movement at all on Scenic Drive heading north. The person had moved about five vehicle lengths in half an hour.
On Wednesday night a single lane of Whoop-Up westbound was opened, accessible from the Scenic Drive off ramp.
The City said the accident caused significant damage to the asphalt and crews are hoping to have repairs made by mid-day today.
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13-12
Damaged ashphalt… come on. More like 40 gallons of diesel down the storm drain that had to be cleaned up.