With heavy winter weather conquering Metro Vancouver on Friday, February 23. the Port Mann and Alex Fraser Bridges may experience a number of problems.
Environment Canada is warning that up to 10 – 25 cm of snow may fall today. As a result, the cables on both bridges may freeze. When this happens, chunks of ice can fall off and strike oncoming traffic.
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The Ministry of Transportation issued a statement warning motorists there may be lane closures on both bridges in order to remove the ice.
Reminder: snow and ice may require upcoming lanes closures on #PortMann and #AlexFraser bridges https://t.co/cbECxw5hfC #SurreyBC #Coquitlam
— BC Transportation (@TranBC) February 23, 2018
Traffic control personnel will be on site throughout the weekend and ready to implement lane closures, if needed, for snow clearing from the cable stays.
Last year the results were catastrophic. For example, incidents from both crossings have led to broken windshields and near-miss events. The province even had to have a helicopter on standby in order to have a way to quickly de-ice the cables. This solution was not feasible to maintain, and it didn’t solve the problem.
Due the damages, the government has decided to install a $5-million cable collar system on the Alex Fraser in order to prevent the falling ice.
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Other Alex Fraser Bridge Updates
The Alex Fraser Bridge is also implementing a new moveable lane in order to ease congestion on the crossway. The seventh lane will be added to the Alex Fraser Bridge by narrowing the six existing lanes and removing the shoulders.
Crews will use a moveable barrier to allow four lanes of traffic northbound during the morning rush hour, which will later be repositioned in the afternoon to create four lanes for southbound traffic during rush hour.
The seventh lane will remain open for southbound traffic for the remainder of the day.
