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Coroner recommends bridge warning system

Rutherford disaster killed five in 2003

By Clare Ogilvie

The government must investigate the feasibility of putting a warning system on bridges at risk of collapse say just released coroner’s reports into the deaths of four people who perished when the Rutherford Creek Bridge washed away in a torrential storm in 2003.

This is not the first time a coroner has made the recommendation. After the M-Creek Bridge washed out near Lions Bay killing nine people in 1981 it was suggested that the government install flashing lights that would operate if a bridge collapsed.

Ministry of Transportation spokesman Jeff Knight said Friday his office had yet to receive the coroner’s reports on the Rutherford Creek washout. But when it did it would review the recommendations thoroughly.

Four coroner’s reports were done, one for each of the four people originally believed to have perished in the accident. Each report carried the same recommendations.

Previously the ministry has stated that its investigations have not found a warning system with a proven track record.

The Rutherford reports say that the National Transportation Safety Board in the U.S. has issued recommendations in the past year to develop an effective motorist warning system in the event of a partial or full bridge collapse.

“Consideration should be given to monitoring the progress of these recommendations to assist in developing a similar system in British

Columbia,” the reports state.

Katie Burnette lost her husband Jamie, the father of her now two-and-a-half year son Cole, when the Rutherford Bridge collapsed Oct. 18, 2003.

“Absolutely I would like to see a warning system put in,” she said from Ontario where she moved last year to be close to her and Jamie’s families.

“I have skimmed the report but it is just too hard to read at this time of year. It will always be there and it will never go away but at this time of year I just want to try and keep a big smile on for Cole.”

Both Pemberton Mayor Jordan Sturdy and Whistler’s Mayor Ken Melamed support the investigation of a warning light system for bridges.

“It should definitely be assessed,” said Sturdy, adding that Pemberton would be following up with the government on the recommendations as soon as he has seen them.

Said Melamed: “The recommendations reflect the sentiment of the community after the accident and there is a greater amount of diligence required by the highways operators and the Ministry of Transportation and Highways in protecting the public from these kind of events.”

Ed Elliot and brothers Casey and Jamie Burnette were in a sports utility vehicle returning to their Pemberton homes from jobs in Whistler when they plunged into the churning and frigid waters of Rutherford Creek between 3:15 and 4 a.m. Oct.18.

Casey Burnette miraculously managed to escape from the submerged and moving vehicle. Elliott and Jamie Burnette have never been found and are presumed drowned.

Also lost in the 2003 flood were Darryl Stevenson and Michael Benoit, who were returning to Whistler from Pemberton when their Volvo plunged into the river. The coroner’s report found Stevenson died of head trauma while Benoit died of massive inhalation of sand and silt debris.

A year later while workers were constructing the new Rutherford Creek Bridge a fifth victim of the storm was found, 35-year-old Michael Leibel, who had just moved to Pemberton from Prince George. After learning his girlfriend wasn’t going to move to Pemberton he robbed the gas store where he worked, stole a car, and took off toward Whistler, eventually driving into the abyss where the Rutherford Bridge had been sometime before 4:14 a.m. when emergency crews were alerted to the fallen structure.

The coroner’s reports makes too additional recommendations: That the Transportation Ministry review how bridges are monitored at high risk times and that Environment Canada’s real time data sites in Whistler and Pemberton be flood proof. Both weather collection stations did not work during the storm.

During periods of high water flow it is ministry standard for the maintenance contractor to inspect the bridge every two hours. The coroner found that according to the contractor’s log book the last inspection using a flashlight of the Rutherford Bridge was done at 12:30 a.m. The contractor’s foreman passed over the bridge at 1:30 a.m. He was informed of the bridge collapse at 4:14 a.m.

During the investigation coroner Jan MacFayden estimated that between 150,000 and 200,000 cubic metres of earth, gravel, boulders and trees were eroded by the flood and washed downstream. The bridge spanning the Rutherford at the time of the flood was built in 1971 and was designed to pass a flow of 127 cubic metres per second. This was the calculated 1:50 year flood frequency.

At the time of the bridge collapse the peak flow instantaneous at that time was 315 cubic metres per second.

The new bridge is made to withstand a 1:200 year flood event.

“The Rutherford Creek Bridge, built using new bridge criteria, is the safest bridge over comparable rivers in B.C.,” state the coroner’s reports.