Halifax Harbour Bridges closed the Victoria Road Interchange Sunday afternoon to carry out an emergency inspection of light standards in the area.

The inspection effort involving Bridge staff and consulting engineers was initiated as a precautionary measure following an early morning incident when a 20-metre lighting mast collapse across two lanes of Victoria Road in high winds.

No one was injured, but two vehicles were damaged.

During the inspection of the 13 remaining lighting masts, evidence of fatigue was apparent in three structures and work began immediately to dismantle them. A crane with 150-foot reach was on the scene.

More detailed testing is being carried out on the remaining masts.

The masts were installed by the Department of Transportation in 2001. They were inspected three years ago when the top halogen lighting section was replaced by an LED system. There was no sign of fatigue at that time.

The inspection forced the re-routing of traffic around the inspection area with traffic accessing the bridge from Victoria Road and Highway 111 forced to make a detour. Dartmouth-bound traffic on the MacKay Bridge is being re-routed to Princess Margaret Boulevard and Windmill Road.

The effort to dismantle the impacted masts will carry on through the evening anticipating that Victoria Road and the Highway connection would re-open by 5:30 am Monday.

Source: Release