Skyway bridge reopens

The Toronto bound lanes of the Skyway Bridge reopened moments ago. According to Ministry of Transportation officials — the lanes that were closed for four days after a nasty crash will re-open sometime between six and eight pm.

Commuters are now breathing a huge sigh of relief. The MTO has said it has finished all of its assessments. They don’t know exactly how much the damage will cost but they say it could be in the millions.

Astrid Poei is with the Ministry of Transportation: “We will conduct more permanent repairs over the coming months. The repairs will take place overnight. Lane reductions will lessen the impact of traffic and going forward the repairs will include an infield beam and during this time it will be manufactured and installed and that will take about 2 months. If found guilty, the liable party will have to cover the costs related to damages to the property.”

Since Thursday the cleanup has included fixing overhead signs, damaged steel on the bridge, paving a 60-metre stretch of pavement that was damaged on all four lanes. There’s a warning system about a kilometre from the bridge that will tell truck drivers that their cabs are too high. But this truck passed that one which leaves the MTO to believe that something caused the cab to be raised closer to the bridge. They don’t know if it was driver error or mechanical failure. That’s something that the OPP investigation will decide.

They also said that based on that investigation, if the driver was at fault or if the truck had mechanical issues, then they’ll be responsible for all the damages. We know that a 34-year old man Sukvinder Singh Rai from Brampton is charged with impaired driving. He is due in court on August 22nd.