The new cable-sweeping system should be in place by the end of December

The system proposed for the Alex Fraser is similar to the one on the Port Mann Bridge

METRO VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – The provincial government will spend $5 million to install a cable-sweeping system to remove ice and snow from cables on the Alex Fraser Bridge.

“Last winter, snow and ice on the Alex Fraser Bridge’s cables forced several closures, which inconvenienced thousands of commuters. Adding a cable collar system to clear snow will improve the reliability of the bridge,” said Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Claire Trevena.

The ministry’s Ashok Bhatti says stopping the problem entirely isn’t really feasible, but believes this is a start.

“It provides us with a tool that we can now use to actually address the conditions on the bridge where as before, you know last winter what we found was there was just a lot of heavy monitoring.”

He says a similar system was put on the Port Mann Bridge after a major ice bomb problem there in 2012. Despite that system, dozens of vehicles still had their windshields smashed and hoods dented after crossing it last winter.

The windshield of a driver who was hit with an ice bomb while travelling over the Alex Fraser Bridge. (Submitted Photo)

However, Bhatti says installing “collars” on the Alex Fraser will at least give them a tool to prevent disruptive closures.

“The system as a whole has been pretty successful for us in some of the worst of times to continue to address that. And it’s also a system that’s being looked at in other jurisdictions,” he explains.

Bhatti adds this isn’t a problem isolated to Metro Vancouver.

“In many parts of the world –East Coast and in the States– they simply shut the bridge down, and they wait for the storms to pass and then they open again and that’s kind of a fact of life for many of the commuters there.”

It should be in place by the end of December.

The province is also moving ahead with its $70 million plan to add a counter flow lane to the Alex Fraser.

Back in December, NEWS 1130 heard from several people who sent in photos, saying their windshields were smashed due to falling ice on the Alex Fraser Bridge, as well as the Port Mann Bridge.