Engineers are investigating what caused a newly constructed bridge to fail. The span carries the Trans-Canada Highway over the Nipigon River in Ontario.

Ontario’s first cable-stayed bridge has failed. Image credit: Hatch Mott MacDonald.A section of the roadway lifted during windy conditions, subsequently resettling some two feet above an adjoining section. The failure closed the bridge until the province's Ministry of Transportation (MOT) authorized its partial reopening the next day.

Until it can be repaired, only one lane of the bridge is open to traffic. A link connecting Canada's eastern and western provinces, the bridge's partial closure has forced trucking companies to seek passage via U.S. routes.

Initial investigation points to the steel bolts that hold sections of the bridge together. MOT officials have taken bolts from the site to test them. Ministry officials have not given an estimate as to when the bridge can be repaired and reopened.

The first two of four proposed lanes of the bridge were opened in November 2015, with Michael Gravelle, minister of Northern Development and Mines, calling the project the "crown jewel in our commitment to four-lane the highway between Thunder Bay and Nipigon."

The C$106 million ($73.84 million) project, funded through the province's Northern Highways Program, began in 2013 and is expected to be completed in 2017. The bridge is to consist of three towers with cables supporting the bridge deck and a separate sidewalk for pedestrians.