Brockville Ontario - The damage done to the city's historic railway tunnel by last week's truck accident is "minor" and should be easily repaired, says the head of the railway tunnel committee.
 
"I think it's business as usual. It looks like minor damage. I think the insurance company will take care of it," said Councillor David LeSueur, chairman of the Brockville railway tunnel advisory committee.
 
In an email to city officials and tunnel committee members, copied to The Recorder and Times, city operations director Conal Cosgrove confirms Lesley White, the city's manager of strategic initiatives, "has contacted the City's insurance broker, who will assist us in ensuring that the cost of the repairs are covered by the truck driver's insurance."
 
That came as a relief to railway tunnel committee member Doug Grant, who had expressed concern about the damage caused by the mishap to the historic tunnel.
 
"That's the important thing, that somebody's going to pay for it, other than the committee," said Grant.
 
The concerns came after a driverless flatbed truck shot out of control down East Market Street Friday morning, narrowly avoiding a catastrophe before coming to a stop with the front end of the cab hanging over the retaining wall of the tunnel.
 
No one was injured in the incident.
 
But there was concern about the damage done to the retaining wall, which underwent a comprehensive upgrade that included re-pointing in recent years.
 
The cab of the truck slammed down on the top of the wall as the wheels went over the edge, coming to a sudden stop atop the structure.
 
The impact caused some mortar to fall out between stones that were re-pointed two years ago and appeared to leave a crack on the flat surface at the top of the wall.
 
The driver of the vehicle, whose name was not released by city police, was charged under the Highway Traffic Act with failing to take precautions to ensure the vehicle would not be set in motion.
 
LeSueur and Grant were also worried about damage done to the wooden slats in front of the tunnel's entrance by a front-end loader needed to get the truck's wheels over the wall.
 
"That's a project that I'm in the middle of working on. We're replacing boards and we're going to do some more," said Grant.
 
The committee has hired contractors to replace the wooden deck and work will resume in the spring, he added.
 
The revitalization of the historic railway tunnel remains a key part of Brockville's capital plan.
 
In 2013, council enshrined a contribution of $300,000 toward the the railway tunnel revitalization project, over a four-year period starting this year, on the city's list of capital priorities.
 
"It's all going quite well," said LeSueur, who hopes to present new drawings showing "an artistic conception" of the project early in the new year.

Ron Zajac.