METRO VANCOUVER - Falling ice on the newly opened $2.46-billion Port Mann Bridge hit dozens of cars and injured at least one person Wednesday, raising questions about safety and bridge design.

The bridge — which normally sees daily traffic of about 110,000 cars — was closed at 2 p.m. and reopened at 6 p.m.

There were reports of the ice, which fell from the bridge’s soaring support cables, damaging windshields, and of one person being knocked unconscious.

According to ICBC, 60 claims were filed Wednesday for incidents on the Port Mann Bridge, although not all of them may be from falling snow and ice.

RCMP said ice started falling about 1 p.m.

“The closure was necessary because falling ice from the bridge injured a motorist who required ambulance attendance, and damaged vehicles,” said Sgt. Peter Thiessen, spokesman for Lower Mainland District traffic services.

Mike Proudfoot, who heads the Crown corporation responsible for oversight and financing of the bridge, acknowledged a coating on cables to ensure snow slid off the bridge and did not drop on cars below, did not work on Wednesday.

But at a press conference, the CEO of the Transportation Investment Corp. repeatedly called Wednesday’s weather an unusual, extreme event and stressed that the bridge meets Canada’s building code.

Others disagreed that the weather was unusual or extreme.

Proudfoot said a review is underway to determine what additional measures will be needed to prevent similar incidents in the future.

He would not say who will pay for the additional measures, noting the review must be completed first.

Proudfoot said he did not know whether heated cables were a part of the original design.

“It’s a difficult day for motorists who have been inconvenienced by this event.

“We apologize for that,” he said.

“It was not anticipated. It has happened in other jurisdictions in other circumstances, but there is certainly a lot of regret for what has transpired today.”

The falling ice hit James Lepp’s car, a 2012 Volkswagen GLI, taking out the driver’s side mirror and possibly denting his hood.

Lepp described the falling ice as “slush bombs” and said other cars were also hit.

Lepp, a golfer and businessman who was returning to Abbotsford from Vancouver, said the slush bombs were falling constantly from the cables on the Port Mann Bridge from all levels.

“I was actually trying to dodge them because they looked pretty damaging. But it was such a gridlock you couldn’t do anything about it,” he said.

“There was a couple of instances where I didn’t go forward because I saw one was going to hit in front of me. I missed those. And I was almost through, and then suddenly ‘bam, bam,’” said Lepp.

He said he was concerned the same thing could happen again as bouts of wet snow and freezing temperatures are not unusual in the Lower Mainland.

University of B.C. engineering professor Perry Adebar said it is too early to call the bridge’s design a mistake.

But he noted that because the cables on the Port Mann are inclined over the bridge, much of the snow will fall on its deck, unlike the Alex Fraser, where cables are outside the driving area.

“Let’s hope that the way the ice accumulated on the stay cables was a very unusual occurrence and that we will not witness this again for many years,” Adebar said in an email.

NDP transportation critic Harry Bains said the B.C. Liberal government should have considered this kind of weather in the design of the bridge.

He said the falling ice raises questions of the bridge’s safety.

Bains said Wednesday’s weather — wet snow and freezing temperatures — is not unusual in the Lower Mainland.

He said the B.C. Liberals are quick to take credit for the bridge during numerous photo opportunities, but will need to answer some serious questions about its safety and design.

“The buck must stop with the (transportation) minister,” said Bains.

B.C. Transportation Minister Mary Polak, who was travelling Wednesday, was not available for comment.

ghoekstra@vancouversun.com

Note: This is a corrected version of this story. An earlier version stated the cost of the bridge was $3.3 billion; that was the cost of the Port Mann project in total.