New BrunswickTwo transport trucks collided with Fredericton’s Bill Thorpe Walking Bridge overpass Wednesday morning and Friday afternoon.Drivers charged after separate incidents in which trucks failed to clear 3.5-metre spaceIan Curran · CBC News · Posted: Sep 19, 2025 4:29 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours agoA close-up shot of the damage to the truck body, with the sign showing the 3.5-metre height restriction visible above. (Ian Curran/CBC)Two transport truck drivers have been charged with traffic offences after their rigs failed to clear the Bill Thorpe Walking Bridge overpass on Waterloo Row in Fredericton this week.The first collision happened on Wednesday morning, with the second following on Friday morning.”Motorists are advised to seek alternate routes and expect delays in the area while crews work to resolve the situation safely and quickly,” the Fredericton Police Force said in a social media post at about 10 a.m. Friday. Officers have charged both drivers with violations of Section 344.1 of the Motor Vehicle Act and Section 36(8) of the Highway Act.WATCH | Frederictonians weigh in on why trucks get stuck:Why do trucks keep getting stuck under Fredericton overpass? Frederictonians weigh inIt’s not a rare sight to see a transport truck stuck under the Bill Thorpe Walking Bridge on Waterloo Row, but twice in one week? That’s uncommon.The Highway Act section cited states that if “the height of the vehicle including any load is in excess of the height restriction, that person commits an offence.”A sign over the opening in the overpass says its clearance is 3.5 metres.In an emailed statement, the City of Fredericton says similar incidents have occurred 14 times since 2007, with frequency ranging from none in a given year to three. A side view of the damage from Friday’s Waterloo Row accident. (Ian Curran/CBC)”There are truck-specific warning signs on the approaches to the underpass and strikes are usually the result of driver error or misinformation from GPS,” the statement said.The city said it is in the process of drafting a letter to the Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association reminding drivers “to avoid no-through-trucking zones, including the one on Waterloo Row.”Incident brings back memoriesDenise Cassidy remembers the time her father, who used to drive a frozen goods truck, hit the overpass with his refrigerated trailer, commonly known as a reefer.”The trailer was a few centimetres too high and that’s all it takes,” said Cassidy, who was just a child and happened to be in the truck with her father when it happened.Denise Cassidy was only a child when her father hit the Waterloo Row overpass with his frozen goods truck. She was riding along with him. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)”Every day that he would come to Fredericton, he would come out and check the overpass,” said Cassidy. “He always got out and it always fit. Like, there was never a question.”She believes a slight adjustment to her father’s routine that day caused the accident.”This one time, there were different dimensions on the trailer…”He was probably not on his game as much, probably chatting up his daughter, and the reefer caught on the bridge.”With files from Jacques Poitras
Traffic lightning strikes twice, as 2 big rigs hit Fredericton pedestrian overpass in 1 week
