The shocking collapse of a Minneapolis bridge has left Canadians wondering about their own structures, and whether they're properly maintained.
"We have similar bridges. In Montreal, for example, we have fairly long bridges," Saeed Mirza, an engineering professor at McGill University, told Â鶹´«Ã½net Thursday.
"I guess similar things could happen here, too. We had the de la Concorde overpass collapse in late September, and basically that was the result of ... flaws in construction."
The Montreal overpass collapsed on Sept. 30, 2006, fatally crushing five people when the structure fell on cars passing underneath.
On Thursday, Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay banned trucks from travelling across the city's Boulevard Henri-Bourassa overpass, because of new weight restrictions stemming from the de la Concorde incident.
A provincial inquiry into the disaster has cited 135 bridges that need exhaustive safety inspections. Trucks will be barred from the Boulevard Henri-Bourassa overpass until its inspection is complete.
"I admit that I am still affected by the images from the tragedy of the Concorde overpass, the tragedy yesterday on the bridge in Minneapolis, and those from an expressway under construction that collapsed recently in Los Angeles," Tremblay told reporters.
In Ontario, 187 bridges missed safety inspections in 2006, according to a report in the Hamilton Spectator.
The newspaper said Ontario only finished $36 million of $210 million in bridge repairs needed in the province's Golden Horseshoe area.
An official with the Ministry of Transportation told the Spectator that some of the 187 bridges may have been under construction at the time, so inspections would have been delayed.
Last year, a provincial report in Manitoba found that of 1,200 bridges in the province, 123 had exceeded their design life of 50 years. Another 222 were at least 40 years old.
In Halifax, drivers travel along the Angus L. Macdonald and A. Murray MacKay bridges more than two million times each year.
Inspections are carried out each year and take two weeks to complete. Steve Snider, of the Halifax-Dartmouth Bridge Commission, said drivers should feel secure.
"I sat last night and thought about our own structures, and what it is that could possibly happen to cause a catastrophic failure like that. Fortunately, I can't think of anything," Snider told CTV Atlantic.
He added the region has its own dedicated maintenance department, engineers and supervisors to monitor the bridges.
Speaking in P.E.I., where the Confederation Bridge spans nearly 13 kilometres, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Ottawa is heavily investing in Canada's infrastructure.
"It's about $30 billion over the next few years. We have the largest infrastructure spending program now in over half a century in this country," said Harper.
"That said, I think this is completely separate from what's happened in Minnesota, which is obviously a terrible tragedy. I'm not in any position to comment on why it happened or what happened ... It's a terrible, terrible thing for many families affected. And we want to, on behalf of all Canadians, convey our condolences to those who have lost loved ones or have been affected by this tragedy."
With reports from CTV Atlantic and CTV Montreal
