If Vancouver Islanders needed another reason to reject the idea of a bridge to the mainland, they only had to look at the news reports from Vancouver on Wednesday.
In the midst of the snowstorm that hammered the big city, drivers on the new Port Mann Bridge suddenly had to dodge chunks of ice raining down from the sky, denting hoods and cracking windshields.
The “ice-bombs” were falling from the cables or towers of the $3.3-billion structure so heavily that RCMP closed the newly opened bridge at about 1:30 p.m.
Driving in Greater Vancouver is stressful enough on a clear day. Imagine the panic as drivers, jammed into heavy traffic, saw the falling objects and sought in vain to avoid them. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide from the deluge.
Imagine the burning resentment when drivers surveyed their dented hoods through their cracked windshields and thought about the tolls they paid to travel on this bridge of doom.
Was it a freak occurrence in unusually bad weather, or did faulty construction cause the ice to build up and then fall with such devastating effect? Perhaps the design was at fault. Perhaps the cables were intended only for use in warmer places like Arizona.
No doubt an investigation will be mounted. An inquiry might have to be called. (Wally Oppal is free now.)
Fortunately, Victorians are safe from such dangers. None of our bridges have cables. Even the new Johnson Street Bridge will be cable-free.
It would be folly to spend billions on a bridge to the mainland, especially now that a new hazard has been identified.
We just have to accept that on days like Wednesday, when rough seas halted ferry traffic to Swartz Bay, the Lower Mainland will be temporarily cut off from civilization.
