By Sara Norman

Saskatoon semi crash raises safety questions

Feb 16, 2012 | 10:42 AM

The neighbourhood of Stonebridge in Saskatoon is still reeling after a semi crashed into the basement of a new home causing a fire that destroyed two new houses on Wednesday. Now they are raising questions about safety.

Later that day a man's body was found close to the wreckage. Police have still not confirmed the man’s identity. The driver of the semi was missing all day yesterday.

Police said the semi-tractor unit lost control going south on Highway 11 after the Highway 16 overpass, went over the sound barrier and crashed into the basement of one of the houses, which set the other on fire. No one lived in the homes yet because they were both still under construction.

Community reactions

Jeff Fox was there when the fire started.

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“It was probably about 40 feet in the air — there was some pretty good flames there, and then it went down a bit,” he said.

Blair Pisio with the community association lives just blocks away from the crash site, and said he has never been concerned living so close to a freeway.

He was shocked to find out what happened but he said it might be time to discuss safety measures with the city.

Pisio says Stonebridge won't expand any closer to the freeway, and hopes something like a guardrail could prevent this kind of incident from happening again.

Contractors working on homes in the neighbourhood said they initially weren't worried about the distance from Circle Drive, but now think a barricade may be needed.

City manager says roadways are standard

City of Saskatoon Infrastructure Manager Mike Gutek said the new unoccupied neighborhood is a safe distance from the highway.

“There are proper side slopes on the roadway and unfortunately in this situation I think it was just a horrible accident,” Gutek said.

He explained that roadways are designed to national standards and the Stonebridge neighbourhood fits within national safety regulations for distance from the highway.

“There are warrants or calculations for obstructions or potential conflict points and when they are in that zone we do put up barriers in the appropriate locations,” Gutek said.

Gutek said the city will run calculations again, but what they can do to boost safety depends on what they can afford.

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