AMHERST – A boom on the back of a westbound transport truck crashed into the MacDonald Road overpass South of Amherst and slowed traffic on the Trans-Canada Highway for almost two hours Wednesday afternoon.
“The call came in at 11:54 a.m.,” Const. Dal Hutchinson of the Cumberland RCMP said. “And traffic began flowing again at about 2 p.m.”
Nobody was hurt in the single vehicle collision.
The transport truck was hauling a skidder used for forestry work and the boom attached to the skidder hit the bridge.
“He was traveling from one place to another and it appeared the boom wasn’t lowered down far enough, which caused it to strike the overpass as it went underneath it,” Hutchinson said. “I wasn’t sure how fast he was going but it’s a 110 km/h zone.”
As a result of the collision, the boom and other debris was strewn across one of the lanes until the Amherst Fire Department and tow truck operators cleared the debris away.
“We’re fortunate there was no one injured and there was no one traveling behind the tractor trailer,” Hutchinson said.
Hutchinson said that a charge was laid under the Motor Vehicle Act.
“I can’t speak to what charge was laid but, no doubt, it had to do with the height of the load,” Hutchinson said.
A quick look at the scene revealed little apparent damage to the bridge but Hutchinson said, “We’re waiting for the Nova Scotia Department of Transportation to send their inspectors up and inspect the overpass to make sure there was no structural damage beyond what could be seen at the scene.”
The Nova Scotia Department of Transportation said they would have more information today on any structural damage that may have been done to the bridge.
More pictures of the collision can be seen on the Slide Show section at www.cumberlandnewsnow.com.
dmathieson@amherstdaily.com
