BC Hydro and the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MTI) have provided further information to the Optimist about the collision Wednesday (Aug. 21) that resulted in a roughly hour-long shutdown of Highway 99 between Highways 17 and 91 in Delta.
It was first reported by the Delta Police Department that a truck had crashed into a power pole, and Highway 99 was shut down shortly after 3 p.m.
On Thursday, the MTI elaborated to the Optimist that “a construction vehicle on the Parkwood interchange construction site contacted a Telus line, which in turn caused a hydro pole to break… [The high voltage] power lines were at risk of falling across the highway.”
Kevin Aquino, a spokesperson for BC Hydro, further explained to the Optimist that the pole is a “joint use” pole serving both BC Hydro and Telus customers. In addition to affecting traffic in both northbound and southbound directions of Highway 99, the downed pole caused approximately 700 BC Hydro customers to experience an outage.
BC Hydro crews made temporary repairs at the accident site, and Highway 99 reopened shortly after 4 p.m.
