A commercial truck driver had to back his rig off a one-way Princeton bridge in Princeton in the dark earlier this month, something the town’s mayor says is a common occurrence.
The Brown Bridge on Bridge Street is a frequent place for the big trucks to get stuck. Skilled Truckers Canada, a Facebook page aiming to promote safety among Canadian truckers, recently shared a photo to its page of a truck stuck at the bridge.
“It is a one-way bridge and (commercial trucks) are not supposed to go over it but I hear GPS sends them in that direction,” said Princeton Mayor Spencer Coyne.
At the end of the bridge, drivers can make a left turn onto Tulameen Ave or right onto Old Hedley Road.
The turns are too tight for larger trucks and Coyne said they get stuck a couple of times a year, despite clear signage telling them not to use the bridge.
“People don’t read the signs,” he said. “There are signs at the far end of town for the truck route and a sign before the bridge pointing out where the proper truck route is.
“This driver didn’t make the corner so he got himself stuck and had to back out.”
Coyne said he doesn’t see a solution to the “ongoing problem” but fortunately it is not a high traffic area of town most of the time.
“It is not on a highway or main route,” he said. “In this case it was at night when no one else is around. I suppose it could be a problem if there was a big event like a hockey game going on in town.”
The Brown Bridge crosses the Tulameen River and was built in the 1930s.