UPDATED: Snow plow loses battle with manhole cover

Ever wonder what happens when a brand new snow plow hits a manhole cover sitting above road level?

Well, we'll let the pictures tell the story here, submitted by a BayToday reader.

It happened Sunday evening around 5:30 p.m. at the intersection of Seymour St. and the bypass.

The driver was not injured, but was taken to hospital as a precaution.

Broadspectrum, formerly Transfield, has the contract from the Ministry of Transportation locally to plow the roads

Gordan Rennie is the Media Advisor with the Ministry.

He told BayToday that there was damage to a snow plow/spreader truck unit while it was conducting operations. The vehicle is a new 2016 plow truck, and may have to be written off, however that has not been determined yet. Rennie says, "It costs about $250,000 to purchase and outfit a plow like the one damaged yesterday.

"The unit was plowing a turn lane from the Highway 11/17 North Bay Bypass onto Seymour Street when it struck a protruding municipal manhole cover on Seymour Street. The operator was taken to the hospital as a precaution and has been placed on light duty while he recovers from the incident.  Significant damage occurred to the plow and truck.  No other vehicles were involved in the incident."

Rennie says why the manhole is protruding is a question for the city.

The city is being tight-lipped at this point. Communications Officer Jaclyn Bucik responded in an email that, "We are aware of the incident that occurred last night and are completing our own investigation.  We won’t be releasing any further details at this point."

Rennie says Broadspectrum is required to have spares as part of the contract if a vehicle gets into an accident or breaks down.

Broadspectrum is the contractor for the MTO’s North Bay Maintenance Area, which includes all provincial highways between Marten River to Sundridge and Hagar to the Nipissing/Renfrew Boundary.