No timeline yet on repairs to bridge

By Lethbridge Herald on August 8, 2025.

Nathan Reiter
Lethbridge Herald
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The City of Lethbridge is still awaiting final estimates after a semi truck hauling construction equipment collided with the underside of the Whoop-Up Drive bridge on Wednesday morning.

According to a news release from the Lethbridge Police Service, a semi-truck with a flatbed trailer loaded with two excavating vehicles was in transit to a west side construction site when the driver made a wrong turn into Indian Battle Park and attempted to travel underneath the Whoop-Up Drive bridge. The equipment loaded on the trailer struck the bridge girders and eventually became stuck causing damage to both the excavating equipment and bridge.

As of press time on Thursday, the driver of the semi-truck has been charged with failing to ascertain sufficient space for movement with additional charges pending.

Whoop-Up Drive was closed to traffic in both directions following the incident and was re-opened later in the day following an initial safety assessment.

The City is working closely with engineering crews from Volker Stein and AECOM, who were already present on site to work on the construction that was already underway on the deck of the bridge.

Joel Sanchez, the director of Infrastructure Services for the City of Lethbridge, spoke to members of the media at City Hall on Thursday afternoon.

“It’s too early to say any potential damage to the bridge.” Sanchez explained. “We’re just taking the pictures and also doing the measurements and the assessment in order to send that back to one of the persons that is well recognized in North America on the bridge side and he’s going to be involved. It might take probably a few days for him to go into the details. After that, we’re going to have more details of what this could entail and for how long it’s going to be.” 

Sanchez said the City can’t provide an estimate of when they will know the total damage to the bridge.

“At this point, what we need to do is to get the report from the structural engineer to make sure the extent of the damage. After that, we will have a better idea of how long this will be, or it will take to repair, and what the changes that will need to happen to Whoop-Up Drive will be based on the findings that we get from the structural engineer.”

Temporary support pillars were installed underneath the bridge while the truck, flatbed trailer and equipment were removed on Wednesday evening.

The temporary supports were still in place as of Thursday afternoon. Sanchez says those supports are a precaution and there is no immediate safety risk to the bridge.

“Yesterday when the truck was being pulled out of the site, we needed to ensure that there was some support for the structure in case when we moved it out, anything was going to shift. It didn’t happen. We’re going to remain there in place, but that’s part of the precautionary measures that we’re trying to do.”

As of Thursday afternoon, there will be several changes to traffic on Whoop Up Drive. The exit from northbound Scenic Drive onto Whoop-Up Drive was re-opened, along with traffic from westbound 6 Avenue.

A zipper merge was added for westbound traffic from the northbound Scenic Drive exit and 6 Avenue. Traffic will then merge with southbound Scenic Drive offramp traffic near the bridge deck. 

Sanchez says the city is hoping to keep traffic going on Whoop-Up despite the ongoing construction and the Wednesday incident.

“We are focusing on the damage that we can see today. The lane that is currently open, is under monitoring. It’s going to be checked on a daily basis to make sure there are no other issues. We were lucky enough that we had people on site that they were able to assess this quickly. That’s what allowed us to maintain the lanes opens that we have. The lanes that are closed, they are not the priority right now. We are focusing on those lanes that are open to make sure that the safety is there for motorists and also for the people that are doing the work on the bridge deck at this time.”

The incident was unrelated to the ongoing construction on Whoop-Up that began on July 24.