City of Saskatoon to pursue ‘all legal avenues’ after second overpass collision – Saskatoon

City of Saskatoon to pursue ‘all legal avenues’ after second overpass collision – Saskatoon


The City of Saskatoon says no legal avenues are off the table after a semi hauling an oversized load struck an overpass Wednesday.


The crash happened just after 5 p.m. on Circle Drive at the 108th Street overpass in the Sutherland neighbourhood when a truck hauling an excavator hit the structure.

City staff and structural engineers arrived on scene shortly after the collision and conducted an assessment to make sure the overpass was safe to use, the city said in a statement.

Police also attended the scene and questioned the truck driver.

Crews removed loose concrete that broke from the overpass Wednesday, closing Circle Drive’s northbound curb lane for further repairs.

Crews remained on scene Thursday morning, removing loose concrete and conducting a secondary damage assessment.

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The lanes reopened nearly 24 hours after the crash Thursday.

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The incident comes nearly a week after someone hit the Highway 16 overpass while travelling into Saskatoon on Highway 11. The two incidents are around six km apart.

For Jason Aebig, CEO of Greater Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce, the two crashes are “too many.”

“The bylaws are clear, the regulations are clear. The signage is clear. What’s missing is a commitment on the part of drivers and haulers to make sure that they’re adhering to those things,” he said.

These overpass crashes incur a number of costs, Aebig said, from infrastructure repairs to traffic delays.

“Saskatoon-based companies actually, they do their diligence,” he said.

“What tends to be a problem are companies from outside our jurisdiction who don’t do that.”

Under its traffic bylaw, the City of Saskatoon can fine individuals and companies for infrastructure damage, with maximum fines of $10,000 for individuals and $20,000 for companies, according to Cindy Yelland, the city’s solicitor.


“The City takes all legal steps to collect damages from any individual or corporation that damages City infrastructure,” the city told Global News in a statement, adding that legal steps can either be through restitution imposed by a court or through a civil litigation claim.

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“Each case is different and there is often an insurance company involved that pays for all or a portion of the claim. It will be the City’s intention to pursue all legal avenues to collect damages for the two recent incidents.”

Saskatchewan’s trucking association says it wants to see more resources delivered to its regulator SGI to make sure bad actors stay off the roads.

“We’ve got lots of great pieces of legislation and regulation on the books in Saskatchewan. And it’s not a matter of not having the laws there to protect society. It’s a matter of having enough people, right, to investigate it,” said Susan Ewart, executive director of the Saskatchewan Trucking Association.

While road closures have been lifted for the most recent crash, they remain in effect for last Thursday’s crash for repairs, according to the city’s road restrictions and construction projects webpage.

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.



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