Protection on the Bridge

Posted by admin

November 29, 2008

Dave Kozachanko was the only one traveling under the Big Nickel Road Bridge when it collapsed shortly after ten a.m. on Friday May 7th, 2004. Andre Frichards, who drives across the bridge every day to get to work, had decided to detour and take another route. Five school buses full of children on a field trip had just left the area’s most popular tourist attraction, located right at the bridge. And a group of orange-vested workman were currently enjoying their coffee break in the safety of a nearby diner. At a time when plenty of vehicles would normally be cruising back and forth, Dave was the only driver on the bridge.

Just a coincidence? The people who didn’t lose their lives when the bridge came crashing down, believe it was much more than that.

According to the Sudbury (Ontario) Star, the bridge was already under repair, as half of the overpass needed shoring up, but the bottom part was still open to traffic. The work had proceeded normally until, as Dave Kozachanko noticed that day, some metal beams jacking up the bridge appeared to be buckling on one side. By now, Dave was already on the lower part of the bridge, and suddenly heard a loud noise above him. “At first I figured it was the construction crew’s machines,” he says. But the sound got louder, and suddenly a cement beam began to fall. Dave floored his accelerator and the beam hit the back of his pickup.

People came running, drawn by the ominous noise. The site supervisor at first thought a compressor had blown up. He was still shaking as he realized an amazing twist of fate, “that if the workers had not been on coffee break, there no doubt would have been several deaths. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

The repair of the bridge and nearby ramps will take awhile, officials agree, as they must first discover the cause of the collapse. But there are plenty of grateful people in Sudbury. “Coincidence, timing or another sign that miraculous events do occur—and that Angels are always with us—-you decide,” says one observer.

Suggested by Jennifer Luetge, Lively, Ontario