Hicks said the foreman phoned him on Friday, before the collapse, to tell him that “something isn’t quite right here.” Hicks and an RM councillor drove to the site to take a look. He said it appeared that the pilings were sinking.
About an hour later, a nearby farmer heard “a big sloosh,” Hicks explained. A neighbour joined in to help and the two farmers called 911 and took action to close the bridge to traffic.
“They saved, potentially, people’s lives,” said Hicks. “Because if you’re driving along, not looking, that would be a hell of a hole to drive into.”
The specific cause of the bridge’s weakness is still a mystery, according to Hicks, who said the Regina-based construction and engineering companies will now conduct an investigation.
“They don’t know if there’s an air or gas pocket or underground river or whatever,” he said.
“It wasn’t structurally faulty. The fault is in what God did under the river.”
Nope, nobody’s ever heard of checking the soil type, depth and bedrock under the foundation of a future bridge support, unheard of. /s