Truckers call for improvements to B.C. highways after series of overpass collisions

The B.C. Trucking Association says that while driver error is often a significant factor when commercial trucks hit overpasses, the province needs to do more to improve highway infrastructure and share what it knows about overpass collisions. 

Dave Earle, CEO of the B.C. Trucking Association, says his group is working with the province to improve infrastructure for commercial drivers and would like to see the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure publicly share findings about incidents.

"Without getting more information about what the ministry is learning, that's going to be really hard for us to work cooperatively to figure out what we can do to improve things," Earle said.

"We just don't know enough about when [the collisions] happen and what's causing them."

Since last month, there have been three incidents where commercial trucks carrying oversized loads have hit overpasses along B.C. highways, Earle said. 

In early June, a truck collided with the Cambie Road overpass in Richmond, causing part of Highway 99 to shut down. A couple of weeks later, a dump truck towing an excavator slammed into the 232nd overpass on Highway 1 in Langley. And last week, a flatbed truck hauling an excavator caused significant damage to the 192nd overpass on Highway 1 in Surrey, sending two people to hospital.

The province says in the past 12 months there have been at least seven incidents of trucks carrying over-height loads striking overhead bridges. 

Jim Weber is a heavy-haul truck driver who says infrastructure in B.C. can be very challenging when transporting oversized cargo such as machinery, farming equipment and construction materials.

"B.C. has a lot of old infrastructure, a lot of low overpasses, and roundabouts ... they've even put roundabouts on the main highways," he said. 

The province says all new infrastructure will be built at least five metres in height to alleviate some of the obstacles facing commercial truck drivers. 

Earle says there could be multiple reasons why commercial trucks have been hitting overpasses.

"It can be people taking shortcuts. It can be people making honest errors in measurement. Sometimes it's companies and drivers just not thinking that they have an oversized load and knowing what those issues are. And that's where education and outreach has to come in," he said. 

The province says to increase transparency and accountability, new measures will be introduced in the coming weeks, including a published list of "B.C. carriers who have been cancelled for cause … this includes serious safety violations."