It was a common experience for many Whitehorse parents Tuesday which has spawned a petition calling for an alternative access into Riverdale.

A late-afternoon collision closed the Robert Campbell Bridge, backing up Riverdale-bound traffic along Second Avenue clear down to Strickland Street.

The traffic chaos turned Marco Paquet's 15-minute commute from downtown into Riverdale to pick up his daughter from daycare turned into a 90-minute ordeal. He finally arrived at 6 p.m., a half-hour after the daycare normally closes.

"I couldn't get to her,” he said in an interview.

He acknowledges he was fortunate the daycare ­– one of many child care facilities in Riverdale – didn't charge overtime for the additional staff time needed, as parents arrived late and he wasn't in an emergency situation.

However, the experience also made him move on calling for another access into the neighbourhood, which is home to Whitehorse General Hospital.

"I've had enough,” Paquet said, pointing to the serious implications the traffic situation could have for people trying to get to the hospital.

As he's learned after posting his petition online, in one case, a pregnant woman was sitting in the traffic jam wondering what would happen if she went into labour as police investigated the scene.

The bridge was closed for 45 minutes, and when it reopened, traffic moved extremely slowly.

While one lane would have been available to emergency vehicles, Paquet questioned what would happen in the case of an emergency that compltely closed off both sides.

Many small planes fly over the river to Schwatka Lake, he said as an example, noting a plane crash on the bridge would likely result in both lanes being closed.

"There are tons and tons of what ifs,” Paquet said.

While another access is needed, he argued, the bridge could also be made wider for vehicles rather than money being spent on the current construction project for the addition of bike lanes on each side of the bridge.

Tuesday's lengthy closure left much of the city at a standstill.

People were unable to pick up their kids or get to appointments or other commitments. Additional lanes could have enabled traffic to flow better, Paquet said.

"Citizens are fed up,” he said, noting this is not the first time the issue has arisen.

Along with other residents who have brought it up to officials, he said, he proposed it more than three years ago after his young son died after choking on a piece of macaroni.

With the family living in the Takhini area at the time, the situation highlighted the need for an ambulance station closer to the many Whitehorse neighbourhoods beyond Two Mile Hill.

While a second ambulance station now exists near the Alaska Highway at Two Mile Hill in addition to those parked at the hospital's station, Paquet said he also told officials then that it was clear a second access to the hospital is needed.

"It's time for it to change,” he said.

Paquet is hoping to get 10,000 people signed on to the petition (at http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/help-save-more-lives-add-a-second-bridge.html) before he presents it to the city.

He noted that while he originally planned to bring it before the Yukon government, he has since learned it would be the city's jurisdiction, though funding could come from the territory.

Paquet is hoping to book a meeting with Mayor Dan Curtis and Riverdale's two MLAs – the Yukon Party's Scott Kent for Riverdale North and New Democrat Jan Stick for Riverdale South – to discuss the issue.

Curtis told the Star Wednesday he doesn't believe a second river crossing is needed.

Before the current hospital was built in the early and mid-1990s, then-mayor Bill Weigand urged the territorial government to relocate it to the other side of the Yukon River because of the single-bridge access to the hospital.

City spokeswoman Jackie Hynes pointed out Thursday there is a crossing over the Yukon Energy dam that can swiftly serve as an alternative route for emergency response vehicles if it was ever required.