West Kelowna overpass, retaining wall has collapsed.

[fumbler]

I have to drive to the airport today and live on westside road.

anyone know if cars are driving on the overpass into kelowna from westside road? or am i going to have to head towards westbank and turn around and come back?

[grumpydigger]

I have probably worked on more construction projects than most people that posts on this forum.

And when something fails this early that should absolutely put the whole construction project under scrutiny.

Failure to do so would be extremely naïve...............especially if the same engineers , inspectors and superintendents were used throughout the whole Protect

[French Castanut]

I had to go to Kelowna this morning. The southbound lanes were already closed and a huge pile up of car was already jam in traffic. And on my way back from Kelowna, I was blocked on traffic from the end of the bridge to the overpass... Took like 1h just for that.

At least, no one's injured.

Anyone remembers the 2006 overpass collapse in Montreal, who killed people running on and under it?

[D suzuki]

glad i dnt live out that way, but i agree, that whole thing should be looked at by outside pros with no interefence by our goverment

[Dash5]

It looks like ABSOLUTELY no person or organization is immune from negative comment from the critical eye of GD. I have to wonder if this poster has ever made a mistake or been less than 100% on anything. Obviously something went wrong here, but why wouldn't it be prudent to wait until they find out why it failed before condemning the construction outfit as being child like.

I was just shocked that GD didn't lay the blame for this on the RCMP somehow!!

[gordon_as]

I am no engineer , however I think it looks like the wrong type of material was used to backfill the wall.

[French Castanut]

I have to drive to the airport today and live on westside road.

anyone know if cars are driving on the overpass into kelowna from westside road? or am i going to have to head towards westbank and turn around and come back?

You can't go on the overpass. It's closed. Northbound goes as usually.. southbound take the exit, then turn right and have a small detour to do..

east-west bound traffic have to find a way around, since they can't cross the overpass.

[mr.bandaid]

The finger pointing will have started already. All the butt kissing at the grand opening will come back to haunt politicians. I can't wait to hear the Liberal spin on what happened and who is to blame. Should be an interesting week.

[dodgerdodge]

Just come back from Kelowna, bloody nightmare. Usual idiots using the Campbell Rd exit to bypass the line up and causing more mayhem as they push back in at the top where the outside lane is also then having to move over. Took at least 30 minutes from bottom of bridge hill and its only Sunday god knows what will happen tomorrow!!!!

Regardless of blame or cost issues lets hope they manage to keep the traffic flowing at least while they sort it all out.

[French Castanut]

Just come back from Kelowna, bloody nightmare. Usual idiots using the Campbell Rd exit to bypass the line up and causing more mayhem as they push back in at the top where the outside lane is also then having to move over. Took at least 30 minutes from bottom of bridge hill and its only Sunday god knows what will happen tomorrow!!!!

Regardless of blame or cost issues lets hope they manage to keep the traffic flowing at least while they sort it all out.

I'm sure they can simply close the third lane, leaving two lanes to circulate northbound during rush hour... and during the day to leave one lane opened and close the 2 lanes on the right in that area. Then, no detour needed.. If it's safe to run under the overpass of course.

[my2bits]

Regardless of the cause, this is a brand-new, engineered structure. It should NOT have failed AT ALL. The WFN is the project supervisor. Chief Louie was quoted at the opening photo-op, "When the (underpass) at Nancee Way is complete, we'll be turning the interchange, in its complete form, over to the province. Until then it's our responsibility to ensure that the project is completed on time and on budget with the least possible impact to the highway users." (Oct 29)
Does their responsibility, as project supervisors, include paying for the cost of repairs before they hand it back to the province?

[snowtires]

I think mabey they didnt pack it enough. Im guessing the whole point of this wall is to save lane space? Otherwise it can be naturally sloped. Makes sence that it shouldnt affect the overpass. Unless of course the ground isnt properly packed under the footing as well. That would be bad. Like others said before could be a drainage problem too. I would put money on those two things. Either way things happen, cant predict everything and lucky noone got hurt. Now its either the contractor who built it or the engineer who designed it to blame.

[cubafreak]

My hubby just called and told me that now a semi has broken down in the middle lane half way up bridge hill..what a mess!!!

[harvgar]

Hmmmm.....just a thot.... We had a small earthquake happen a few days ago. What would have happened if we had a bigger one? "A whole lot of shaking going on" is maybe not such a good thing!

[D suzuki]

well part of the problem with traffic is that damn bridge, and this just adds to it, im no bridge builder, but i cant see why it had to be a floating bridge , i was hoping it would have been a span type bridge say like the alex fraser and got rid that dumb corner on the westbank side , part way up the hill