Changes coming to prevent large trucks from getting stuck at the MacKay tolls

It's becoming a fairly regular occurrence here in Halifax, a large truck getting stuck at the MacKay Bridge tolls.

Halifax Harbour Bridges says changes are coming next year that they hope will reduce the number of incidents.

Spokesperson Alison MacDonald says some of the ideas they're tossing around include installing overhead signs well ahead of the tolls indicating which lanes have more clearance, and putting up a clearance bar — similar to what you'd see in a parking garage — that a tall vehicle would lightly hit, letting the driver know they won't make it through that toll lane.

“Those would be probably the most cost-effective way to address this,” she says.

MacDonald says the toll plazas on both bridges are nearing the end of their life spans.

“We are either going to replace them totally in the next many years, or we will move to, perhaps an all-electronic system where the entire toll plaza would disappear, so there would be no more overhead canopies to worry about.”

According to MacDonald, most of the time when a truck gets stuck at the MacKay tolls, it doesn't actually damage the canopy.

“They realize too late they've picked the wrong lane, but they haven't struck anything … so we just back them up and move them to the correct lane,” she explains.

“There are three lanes on either side of the bridge that are for taller and wider vehicles. They can all fit under them if they pick the right lane.”

This situation isn't an issue on the Macdonald because larger commercials vehicles aren't allowed to cross that bridge.