Canada Opened a New Bridge in 2015. Weeks Later It Split the Country in Two

On the afternoon of January 10, 2016, the only road between eastern and western Canada broke. A brand new 106 million dollar bridge over the Nipigon River in northwestern Ontario, open for just forty-two days, lost all forty bolts at one corner, and its deck rose about sixty centimetres into the air. Highways 11 and 17 were closed. With the old bridge already out of service, there was no way across the country without driving through the United States. Everybody blamed the cold and the wind. The engineering report said it was neither. LOCATIONS IN THIS VIDEO Nipigon River Bridge, Highway 11/17: 49.0140, -88.2560 Northwest bearing, west abutment: 49.0145, -88.2575 Merge of Highways 11 and 17, Nipigon: 49.0170, -88.2620 Pigeon River border crossing, start of the US detour: 48.0000, -89.5850 Access: the bridge carries live Trans-Canada traffic and there is no stopping on the deck. It can be viewed from public ground in the town of Nipigon along the river. SOURCES Ontario Ministry of Transportation, engineering review findings, September 22, 2016 National Research Council of Canada and Surface Science Western, bolt testing, 2016 CBC News Thunder Bay, contemporary reporting, January 2016 to January 2017 Global News, reporting on the failure and investigation, 2016 CTV News, interview with MP Charlie Angus, January 2016 Wawa News, May 2018 expansion joint closure Washout Line covers the roads Canada lost, and what is still left of them. #NipigonBridge #TransCanadaHighway #Ontario