Discussions

Might as well start this thread lol as it happened again

https://www.brandonsun.com/local/2023/02/24/kemnay-bridge-struck-again  
 
 
Wow. Just WOW.

Add a couple more WOW. Its incredible !

Doesn't it make you feel all warm and safe with drivers like this on the road?

A fine like that doesn't make sense to me. Every time this happens they have to reroute trains, get engineers to inspect the bridge not to mention the clean up. Fines should represent these expenses. Why should tax payers pay for ignorant drivers. If the excuse "I didn't see it (warning lights ect...) was valid there would be more blind people with drivers licenses.

I've been saying for about 20 years that there's an easy way to stop this.  
Put up a pole on each side of the road. Hang a big sign from chains saying " if you hit this sign - you won't fit !! " When the sign hits the the truck ,the " THUMP BANG" should make them stop without damaging the truck- too much.  
The number of times this bridge has been hit , a simple huge sign would save the taxpayers a lot of money.

Maybe it’s time to update infrastructure. Raise the bridge or reroute the road.  
It’s fair to say that the warning signs and flashing lights are there to warn drivers but it’s obviously not working on multiple occasions for multiple drivers, greater fines or punishments aren’t going to change that. That says to me that a major rework of the area is required to allow more clearance for vehicles. Frankly I have always thought that driving down into that dip under the bridge is dangerous anyway especially in the winter.

From what I understand there is a plan to continue the eastern access to the west from the south end of Brandon to avoid Kemnay Bridge. But plans have been collecting dust for years.

Trucks have been getting stuck under that bridge for as long as I can remember. The issue is not unsafe drivers as suggested above, The signs clearly say Clearance 12 feet. What they don't say is that there is a sharp dip there so the front of the truck is going up while the back is still going down. If a truck is 70 feet long he probably has 10 feet of clearance not 12 like the sign says. That is why trucks get stuck under the bridge instead of hitting it with the front of the trailer. It has amazed me for decades that no-one is smart enough to figure that out.

This is my understanding as well. From what I understand, the underpass is prone to flooding, so further lowering the roadway isn't feasible. Raising the rail bridge also isn't feasible because it would require significant modifications to the track before and after the bridge.  
 
Instead, there is a plan that has indeed been collecting dust for years, to extend highway 110 from highway 10/18th Street to highway 1. That Western extension of highway 110 would connect to highway 1 just west of Kemnay (and west of 1A).  
 
 
Found a 2015 article about it for anyone interested:  
 
https://www.brandonsun.com/local/2015/11/04/highway-110-heading-west  
 
Edited by JosephC, 2023-02-25 09:31:24

A van body semi trailer is 13'5" tall. That bridge is 12'3". Dip or not, that trailer will not fit. My 5th wheel camper wouldn't even fit under that bridge.  
The issue is certainly the driver that does not know the height of his vehicle....

Purchase and clear some of the properties in Kemnay, route the road to one side and over the top of the railroad.

No need to clear any route when there’s a perfectly well used road used by trucks everyday, right before bridge with all kinds of signage just need drivers to pay attention.  
Those signs are large flashing lights .

That Kemney bridge underpass gets hammered at least twice a year.  
Checked out. Minuscule fine $200.  
Yet, 8th Street bridge gets bumped by garbage truck. Gets torn right down.  
Not just gets restricted to light vehicle traffic or pedestrians. Affects a whole section of a city. Just leaves me wondering.

Kemnay bridge has Been there since 1858 when train station was located there.  
we just need more attentive truck drivers and definitely higher fines.  
 
I don’t see any comparison to a bridge located in the city of Brandon that was going to cost in excess of 30 million dollars at the time of demolition.  
 
Edited by Mac72, 2023-02-25 12:51:05

Build the road up to the level of the tracks so it would be a normal crossing? Or you know, maybe just pay attention to the road and signage.

if they would place a traffic circle at the intersection where these big oversize trucks are suppose detour ,maybe they would consider this because they are already slowing down anyways and make that turn

Instead of costing taxpayer money for solutions and infrastructure. How about charging the company and drivers. In all these years I haven’t seen a construction or agricultural piece stuck under it. Can’t understand dimensions signs as a professional driver, maybe shouldn’t be driving.

It is NOT the drivers fault. As someone previously mentioned , no semi trailer has ever hit the face of the bridge.. They all get stuck under the bridge.  
What the signs should say is that the clearance is only actually 9.5 ft when the trailer is right under the center of the bridge NOT 12.5 ! Another thing that would help is if someone took the time and effort to communicate with the proper GPS people so that a warning showed up on vehicle GPS screens that NO SEMIS ALLOWED ON THIS ROUTE like a  
" CONSTRUCTION WARNING" would certainly help.  
But most people here would rather get on here and blame or suggest adjustment strategies. Any of you want to start contributing to the roughly 1.5 BILLION that would cost to change? Maybe you can start with a small donation of 150K huh. Should be affordable to most of you.

As previous poster said GPS needs to update to allow for the low bridge.  
Just because GPS tells you to go there it is not always correct. It might be the shortest route but not the best road.  
We experimented with GPS a few years back to get to Centreport in Winnipeg. The road construction had not been updated and where it said to turn off the bypass was just a ditch full of water. The turnoff had been removed. Then we had to listen to going wrong direction missed turn.

Wow!

https://youtube.com/shorts/oyCX3WoONq8?feature=share

Standard dry van trailers are 13’6” which this is what generally gets stuck under the bridge. They would not fit under the bridge on flat ground. This is 100% driver incompetence. If they are unable to read the signs. Follow the flashing light warning and read the giant over height detour direction sign they should not be driving professionally. To save time and money we should just install a large i beam half way between the detour road and the bridge and let semis hit that so railway and bridge inspections are not required.

Did you transpose the numbers ?( 1858) I believe the railroad went through in 1885.  
 
1889  
 
Construction of the Souris Branch commenced from Kemnay. The first train ran to Souris on 13 January 1890.  
 
1904  
 
The first CNR train from Winnipeg to Brandon ran on 4 June 1904. The CPR moved its shops from Eighteenth Street to four blocks east of First Street. The CPR gave the Eighth Street bridge to the City of Brandon. The CPR doubled its tracks to Kemnay.  
 
https://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/features/brandonrailways/index.shtml

1885  
 
Construction on the Manitoba & Northwestern (originally called Portage Westbourne & Northwestern) was started from Portage la Prairie in July 1881. Grading reached Gladstone on 30 June 1882. (The track was completed in September 1882 and the first train ran on 1 October 1882.) The railway was in poor financial shape. It was acquired by Sir Hugh Allen and Associates of Montreal and renamed the Manitoba & North Western (M&NW). Regular train service between Portage and Minnedosa were inaugurated in September 1883. Extensions of the M&NW to the west, to Solsgirth (August 1885), Langenburg (December 1886), Saltcoats (1888), and Yorkton (1889). Branches to Russell and Rapid City were built in 1886.

But noticed too late to edit figured someone would correct it eventually!

I drove commercial vehicles, most of my working life, my highway driving consisted of hualing heavy equipment and some mobile home hauling. When I started a long time ago (retired now) we took pride in our courtieous sharing of the road as well as our knowledge of the rules of the road and all the signage. In the old days it was sort of a tight knit community, most everybody knew everybody. If anyone was a troublemaker he would soon find himself unable to find a job. But in those days there were more drivers than jobs. Nowdays there is more jobs than drivers, and it seems to me there is a problem. I have seen a serious lack of professionalism among truckdrivers starting with tailgating, I have had trucks tailgate me even when there is an empty lane right next to them. I realize it is a changing world and we have to adapt, but courteous driving and pride in doing a job well is long gone.