January 25, 2012

Woman dies after car plunges off of Winnipeg bridge

MITCH CALVERT

This photo from October 2011 shows progress on the new Disraeli bridge, which is being built next to the existing 50 year old structure.

RICHARD GILBERT

staff writer

Construction activity doesn't appear to be a factor in death of young woman, who died after her car collided with another vehicle and then plunged off Winnipeg's Disraeli Bridge in a construction zone.

“I have been able to confirm that the construction area was not a factor in the cause of the motor vehicle collision,” said Terry Kolbuck, public information assistant with the Winnipeg Police Service. “One of the construction cranes was utilized to move the vehicle to an area where it could be safely reached by a tow truck.”

A press release from the Winnipeg Polices Services said emergency services were dispatched to a motor vehicle collision on the Disraeli Bridge, near Henderson Highway, on Jan. 18 at about 2:30 p.m.

“Upon arrival, officers located a vehicle on the river bank below the bridge,” said the release.

A new Disraeli Bridge is under construction and the existing bridge is still open to traffic.

For this reason, a crane was available at the site to raise the 2002 Isuzu from the banks of the frozen Red River. Emergency crews removed the injured woman from the mangled car.

“A 19 year old female was transported to hospital in unstable condition, where she later succumbed to her injuries,” said the release.

The Winnipeg Police units that arrived at the scene started an investigation and notified the Central Traffic Collision Investigation Unit.

Traffic was blocked off in the area for hours and the police remained on the scene late into the evening.

“The investigation has revealed that a vehicle was travelling southbound over the Disraeli Bridge, where it lost control, struck one other vehicle and went through a protective guardrail, falling approximately 45 feet to the riverbank below,” said the release.

Several media outlets are reporting that the name of the dead 19 year old woman is Kaitlyn Fraser, but police have not officially identified her.

She was the lone occupant of the vehicle.

It was also reported that bridges and intersections across Winnipeg were extremely slippery on Jan. 18.

The incident is still under investigation by members of the Central Traffic Unit.

The Disraeli Bridges Project is a Public-Private Partnership (P3) between the City of Winnipeg and Plenary Roads Winnipeg, which is the design and construction consortium responsible for building and maintaining the bridges.

The Plenary Roads Winnipeg team consists of the Plenary Group (Canada) Ltd., PCL Constructors Canada Inc., Wardrop Engineering Inc. and Stantec Consulting Ltd.

The Disraeli Bridge, which is Winnipeg’s largest bridge project to date, will employ about 120 jobs during the peak construction period.

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