It could be days until the Queensborough Bridge is fully reopened after an electrical fire under the span Wednesday morning.
The blaze, sparked by the failure of a City of New Westminster-owned high voltage cable running under the bridge deck, was reported at about 1 a.m. after someone noticed smoke coming out of an access cover on the crossing.
The fire put itself out, city officials said, but not before causing significant damage to the power line, knocking out power to Queensborough and parts of the West End and necessitating the closure of Queensborough schools.
The bridge was closed in both directions until Ministry of Transportation engineers determined the span hadn鈥檛 sustained any structural damage. On Wednesday afternoon one lane southbound had been reopened.
But the bridge won鈥檛 be fully opened until the electrical cables are fixed.
鈥淲e anticipate some of the space on the bridge is going to be needed to conduct the repair work to the power lines under the bridge,鈥� Mayor Jonathan Cote said.
Restoring power to Queensborough was also expected to take up to 15 hours to restore as of Wednesday at press time.
Meanwhile, Starlight Casino in Queensborough announced it would open its buffet free of charge to affected residents Wednesday evening.
