# My gosh US to get more traffic...



## Will2 (Mar 20, 2013)

Cross-Canada route severed after Ontario bridge appears to split apart Northern Ontario bridge fails in cold, severing Trans-Canada Highway - Thunder Bay - CBC News wow, just wow, how long does it take to fix, no idea.

This newly built bridge. the Only one connecting eastern and western Canada along the trans Canada highway has broke in cold weather...

This is a major problem.

We had natural gas substations fail and blow up in cold weather but this is a new one.

This is a brand new bridge too.

http://www.tbnewswatch.com/News/379810/Newly_constructed_Nipigon_Bridge_splits_in_cold_

US should get increased traffic to pigeon river as a result. also winnipeg grand fork and sprague

Can you believe that. Canada only has one road connecting the east and west of Canada ..!!! and it broke.

It creates quite an issue for legal stuff too, as Thunder Bay is the District seat for court, and sends people out and about.

The only way in or out of thunder bay (from eastern ontario) now is by air. (or maybe snowmobile)

The rail was pulled up years ago.
Another option is to take rail to the north which is still connected by rail to kenora or souix lookout then get transport somehow to thunder bay from the north west.

This is a MASSIVE transport emergency in Canada. Basically all transport truck traffic from western to eastern and eastern to Western Canada is shutdown, unless it diverts through the US.


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## txmarine6531 (Nov 18, 2015)

You'd think Canadian contractors would have this stuff figured out by now, with as much cold weather that is up there.


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## bigwheel (Sep 22, 2014)

So sorry to hear about that. Prayers said.


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## Will2 (Mar 20, 2013)

What I don't understand is why they wouldn't just leave the old bridge standing until the new one was fully working, or even at all and just keep it running for pedestrian traffic, etc.. they basically opted to replace the old bridge with the new one, instead of keeping the old bridge and building the new one.

Greenstone , where my properties are, has declared a state of Emergency as a result of the "only bridge" linking the east with Thunder Bay has been shut. This will to a lesser extent also effect the local economy in Longlac.

This effects greenstone the most since it is 300km from Thunder Bay (normally now it is 200km from a bridge that linked the last 100km to thunder bay) and 200 km from hearst which is not that big. It is 600KM or so to Sault St. Marie the nearest big town/city so that is like 400 miles or something, and that is via industrial roads (dirt gravel), in the winter that doesn't work so well. Meaning Greenstone basically has a half day drive on highway that often shuts down in bad weather to get to large northern communities like Sault St. Marie, or maybe 10 or so to Timmins?. Effectively it is as close to cut off as you can get up there. Of course the railline is still working so there is still a way out, without using aircraft.


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## sideKahr (Oct 15, 2014)

Wow! When you say all traffic must now divert through the US, do you mean south around Lake Superior? That's a heck of a detour!


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## TacticalCanuck (Aug 5, 2014)

I just caught this headline. What a gas!! I guess we can expect a tax hike to pay for repairs? You would think that the importance this bridge has to the trans can highway it would of been designed using tried tested and true construction methodologies and materials. 

Now when i go for my cross country trek with my polar bear (they are like camels up here) and walrus sled i am going to have to have all the paperwork and shots and immunization records. To hell if i know where i put those.


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

Here is an alternative route from Thunder Bay to Winnipeg.

Driving Directions from 100 Princess St Thunder Bay, ON to 2000 Wellington Ave Winnipeg, MB - MapQuest


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## JohnSmith (Jan 11, 2016)

Will2 said:


> Cross-Canada route severed after Ontario bridge appears to split apart Northern Ontario bridge fails in cold, severing Trans-Canada Highway - Thunder Bay - CBC News wow, just wow, how long does it take to fix, no idea.
> 
> This newly built bridge. the Only one connecting eastern and western Canada along the trans Canada highway has broke in cold weather...
> 
> ...


Yu mentond ay bridg 
Ay red sum uf yur post n we tink tee men frum de guv arr on us tu 
Az fer de bridg uze ay dogsled


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## Will2 (Mar 20, 2013)

sideKahr said:


> Wow! When you say all traffic must now divert through the US, do you mean south around Lake Superior? That's a heck of a detour!


Yeah around Lake superior to Sault St. Marie, although it would make sense perhaps to go all the way through to southtern michigan to the two border crossings there ie. north of detroit and detroit, if the traffic is destined for southern ontario. Roads may be better there too as weather is a bit warmer in the US maybe not as bad snow also. But there is literally NO OTHER ROAD, it is the only road at that point, I'm not talking no other highway, I mean that is the only bridge in Canada that links east and west together, there is no other bridge at all, that is operating, like that is it. us has lots of roads and routes, Canada has 1 at that point, only 1.

Apparently they have temporarily solved the problem of the bridge being 2 feet tilted up off the ground by by putting counterweights on the bridge to "hold the uplifted side of the bridge down" and opened up one lane to let trucks take turns crossing.

Also to correct Slippy's misunderstanding. Nipigon is to the east of Thunderbay. The break is at NIPIGON, not Thunder Bay.

https://www.google.ca/maps/dir/Long...2a1afac6b9ca64!2m2!1d-97.1374937!2d49.8997541

That do not sign is the road closure at nipigon.

Here is what the detour from Longlac to Winnipeg would look like

https://www.google.ca/maps/dir/Long...fac6b9ca64!2m2!1d-97.1374937!2d49.8997541!3e0

Trucks going from Winnipeg to Toronto, would already have perhaps better routes through the US
https://www.google.ca/maps/dir/Winn...5502ab4c477!2m2!1d-79.3831843!2d43.653226!3e0

In reality what it means is that the 2 to 3 hour in good weather trek to Thunder Bay has just turned into a 7 or so hour trek to Sault St. Marie. The Sault would more or less be the new republic capital with that bridge out of order.
https://www.google.ca/maps/dir/Long...55b0eb513db21cd!2m2!1d-84.3460896!2d46.521858


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## Will2 (Mar 20, 2013)

JohnSmith said:


> Yu mentond ay bridg
> Ay red sum uf yur post n we tink tee men frum de guv arr on us tu
> Az fer de bridg uze ay dogsled


Yeah well lots of the dog sleds were retired. That would also be a lot of unloading and loading but it is likely one of the backup plans. Local people would probably want the porting work for themselves though.

We'd probably have to bring in teams from all over ontario to keep it running round the clock.

Probably be easier just to divert through the US. It'd probably take a couple hours to unload, transport across the bridge and reload.

However it seems like they got a temporary fix but it is a little freaky. Not sure if this type of occurrence is common or not. It being the ONLY suspension bridge in Ontario, not really sure how those things work. Aside from costing upwardsof 70 million US to build (not yet finished) I would think this sort of thing shouldn't have happened.

Yeah snow mobiles are way more common these days, they've pretty much replaced the dog teams up here.


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

Will2 said:


> ...
> 
> Also to correct Slippy's misunderstanding. Nipigon is to the east of Thunderbay. The break is at NIPIGON, not Thunder Bay.


Just making sure you are paying attention Will.

Your pal,

Slippy :icon_smile:


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## cdell (Feb 27, 2014)

Western independence!! We are separating from Eastern Canada and all of the liberals. You can keep turdo!

It's hard to believe that there is only one bridge connecti the East to the West. That seems like a tactical error. Stupid Ontario.


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## Will2 (Mar 20, 2013)

txmarine6531 said:


> You'd think Canadian contractors would have this stuff figured out by now, with as much cold weather that is up there.


Just an update the Spanish Contractors the government hired to build the only bridge linking eastern and western Canada used Chinese-made steel joints which apparently failed due to normal rapid shifting of weather. The broken bolts made in China will need to be replaced with bolts that will not fail in cold weather extremes that are common in Northern Ontario.

They are apparently meeting tomorrow to discuss the issue and get a better idea of what needs to be done to fix the only road bridge linking eastern and western canada, if possible.

The bridge, while still broken, opened to one lane to let cars and some trucks cross. Apparently about 1600 trucks with loads of about 100Million per day are being stopped or delayed as a result of the bridge failure.

there is no timeline on when this will be fixed or when the bridge will be finished, most likely in a year or two.


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