Careful with those old bridges

The Prairies are dotted with old bridges that were never built to handle the weight of modern farm equipment, especially loaded grain carts. This bridge over the Souris River in southwest Manitoba was built in 1923, and as you can see, it gave up trying to cope with backbreaking weights.

Scott Day, diversification specialist with Manitoba Agriculture in Melita, says that "if it wasn’t for the front end loader that is holding the unit in place, the situation could have been much worse."

No one was hurt and the tractor and trailor have been lifted out, but farmers in the area who depended on the bridge will have to take the long route.

Thanks to Scott Day for sending in the photo, Andy Elliot for taking the photo, and to the Manitoba Co-operator for first bringing this to my attention.