In my 19 years with the Observer/Eagle Valley News, I’ve seen many RCMP reports about motor-vehicle incidents on Highway 1 between Salmon Arm and Sicamous.
Some of the ugliest incidents have been at the Bruhn Bridge by Sicamous. Among them was last weekend’s crash (Aug. 24) that resulted in the death of 25-year-old truck driver Raminderjit Singh.
In recent years, we've seen several collisions resulting in broken railings on either side of the bridge; however, last weekend’s was the first I’m aware of where a vehicle actually broke through and plunged 60-feet into the channel below.
While this tragedy prompted immediate, and in some cases inexcusable, comments from armchair investigators on social media, as of Monday morning, Aug. 26, police were still investigating the matter and had not yet commented on what transpired leading up to the incident.
It is not speculation that’s needed, but sympathy for Singh’s family who are having to bear tragic loss.
Though I am sad for the family, I find this latest fatal collision at the Bruhn Bridge has spurred a mix of feelings, including exasperation and disappointment. Not just due to the collision, but the bridge itself.
Thirteen years have passed since a triangular chunk of concrete, about three feet long and three inches thick, broke off the Bruhn Bridge and landed in a passing houseboat. Thankfully no one was hurt. This incident prompted the province chip to off concrete from the bridge’s support structure, which is the reason for the numerous patches of exposed rebar.
Eight years have passed since it was made public the province was taking steps towards replacing the 62-year-old, two-lane bridge, and the transportation ministry hosted an open house at the Sicamous and District Recreation Centre, giving residents an opportunity to look at, and comment on, three proposed replacement options.
Six years have passed since the ministry announced it would go with a five-lane option, and three since when it was revealed the province would be building a four-lane structure, but without an second bridge over the channel at the end of Main Street as was proposed in one of the initial three options.
In the world of government process, particularly for such a large project, I suppose eight years isn't a long time but, at least for me, it feels like it. Since 2016 we've seen two provincial elections. The large Salmon Arm West project was completed in that time, and numerous other local projects along Highway 1 have gotten underway. According to ICBC statistics, between 2019 and 2023 there were 11 collisions at the bridge, 10 of those at the exit onto Old Spallumcheen Road.
"This is the second time in two years that we’ve almost had a transport truck end up in the channel. What happens if one of those transport trucks happens to be a carrier of fuel or something like that? Now we’ve got an environmental issue." This was part of former Sicamous Mayor Terry Rysz's response to a 2022 collision that saw a westbound transport truck hit a vehicle on the bridge behind another vehicle turning left onto Old Spall. The transport truck then went into the eastbound lane and hit another vehicle, and a chain reaction led to another portion of guard rail being knocked out.
“It is incredibly lucky (they) didn’t go over the bridge,” said former Sicamous Fire Chief Brett Ogino.
With construction work on the new bridge expected to begin this fall, we supposedly have another three years (and another provincial election) to get through before the project's completion. And while the province may do what it can to ensure public safety at the construction site, at a time when drivers seem to be increasingly in a hurry (this summer saw the B.C. Highway Patrol pleading with drivers to slow down), there may be challenges at the bridge, or on alternate routes where additional traffic may exacerbate issues at locations where crashes/collisions are already known to occur, such as the Hwy. 1/97B intersection that saw 66 collisions between 2019 and 2023, the 97B/Auto Road SE intersection (34 collisions) and the 97B/97A off-ramp (20).
I am not suggesting the Bruhn Bridge is entirely at fault for what happened last weekend, but it is, without question, an outdated bit of infrastructure that cannot be replaced soon enough.
