Motorists trying to get to Quebec had to be patient during the followingnoon and part of the evening on Friday, following an accident caused by the rupture of an expansion joint near the southern head of the Pierre-Laporte bridge.
The incident occurred on the Risi bridge which spans the Chaudière River just before the infrastructure, around 12 p.m.
Photo courtesy, René Leclerc
A vehicle with five passengers on board, including three children, hit an expansion joint that had come out of its axis on the roadway. The airbags deployed under the force of the impact. Fortunately, none of the occupants were seriously injured.
Two out of three highway lanes were closed northbound, causing huge traffic jams that persisted for several hours. One of them on Highway 20 stretched for almost 13 kilometers.
Photo courtesy, René Leclerc
Urgence-Environnement had to go to the scene since fluids from the vehicle were spilled, while engineers from the Ministère des Transports (MTQ) analyzed the situation.
Once the problem was corrected, the situation slowly resolved, with the reopening of all lanes shortly before 7 p.m.
The department specified that the work carried out is temporary and that a permanent corrective action would eventually be taken.
