Toughest Bridge in the World

That's funny mozz. There's one in Stamford, Ct headed towards Shippan Point that has a similar history. How might I know you ask???? Hell, the terminal told me I could get under her & they loaded me.

LOL I'm curious as to why there is no sign that says, "NO TRUCKS".

I'm On Fire wrote:LOL I'm curious as to why there is no sign that says, "NO TRUCKS".

The flashing yellow light on the bridge indicates the truck is too high.

I would like to see a front view of the drivers reaction also

Grew up with a guy that wrecked most every car that he had. Somehow, someway, he got a job driving a propane delivery truck. He took out some overhead wires and last i heard he didn't work for them anymore.
There are 2 or 3 low railroad bridges near Scranton that get trucks trapped under them every single year.

You take out wires with a propane truck and you're probably lucky to be working anywhere!

Back in Colorado where I grew up they had cables strung across the road with chains hanging down similar to this...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:IowaA ... lltale.jpg

Bridges that keep getting clobbered like that will eventually become structurally weakened.

Edit: I just remembered that a train derailment was caused by a truck that hit a low railroad overpass, knocking the rails out of alignment...Happened near the Utah/Wyoming border back in the 1980's IIRC.

I'm On Fire wrote:LOL I'm curious as to why there is no sign that says, "NO TRUCKS".

Because a coal truck would fit.

My Uncle took coal to a house once with a big garage where he had to back into the garage. Truck fit fine going in, wouldn't fit on the way out. I don't know exactly what it is but there is probably a good 4 inches of difference with or without a load. They had to let some of the air out of the tires to get it out, I'm pretty sure that was the plan from the beginning. That may even be the case with some of these drivers here, they might of fit with a load going one way.

Bridges that keep getting clobbered like that will eventually become structurally weakened.

They aren't actually hitting the bridge, they are hitting the giant steel I-beam before it.

One here on rt 7A in Bennington, VT like this. Hit so many times over the years that DOT and Rail Co are finally planning the big lift!

BWAHAHAHAAHAAA!!!! GREAT video Mozz!!

I used to be the opposite of those guys. I'd stop and get out & look ... while people behind me would go absolutely berzerk!

We've got probably 100 bridges like that in central MA alone ....

What really screws up drivers are the arched bridges. They hug the curb, and peel the right side of the box off.

It looks to me like they could lower the roadway a few more inches and most of the trucks would fit.

We used to have a bridge here that was located over the Kennebec River just before a paper mill. It was not unusual to see trees shoved up in the steel work above. One time we went in with a load, stopped in Benton before the bridge and used the log loader to move wood around. As we passed under the bridge you could hear, "bang, bang, bang", every time we went under a cross member; the top of the boom was just a touch too high, BUT WE FIT! That bridge was replaced a few years ago with one that had structural support above the road deck.

My favorite bridge has got to be the CNIC Railroad Bridge over the Ohio River in Paduchah, KY-Metropolis, IL. It had steel ties on the approaches so we spent a lot of time cleaning up the resulting mud holes those ties created.

Richard S. wrote:They aren't actually hitting the bridge, they are hitting the giant steel I-beam before it.

If this is the case, then the title of the thread is actually misleading because the bridge then is not tough at all; the i-beam installed BEFORE the bridge is the robust part. This also infers that either the bridge was knocked loose in early collisions, or that the engineers knew the bridge was not tough enough to take the impact from the beginning and gave it protection (a bridge condom of sorts I guess). And yes I have been told I would make a great lawyer!

In a lot of ways this is like Frank Loyd Wright's famous (or infamous) Falling Water house. One of the construction workers, a rather tall fellow, hit his head on a protrusion and gashed his head open. When the famous architect heard of this incident and was asked for a suggested fix, he screamed out in anger, "I do not design my buildings for freaks." His attitude was just as bitter when workers told him the cantilevered section over the water falls should be reinforced. Again he scoffed, yet when the Department of the Interior did a major renovation to the structure a few years ago, they had to strengthen the supports to the cantilevered section because it was sagging beyond allowable limits.

I realize the shock value of this video, but in reality this bridge is poorly engineered. I know, I am a stick-in-the-mud, but a well designed bridge would never be hit in the first place, or if a bridge continued to be hit a lot, it should be retrofitted so that it does not pose a problem. Putting a well mounted I-beam in front of it must have been done by the Maine Department of Transportation who are well versed in putting up signs that say, "Rough Road Ahead", but while they will go to the effort to do that, it would take just as much time and effort to just fill the pot holes.

I wonder if they will video tape the police officer telling the truck drivers wife that her husband, and father of three children, who just got killed by hitting a low bridge because he was not familiar with the road? Look at the majority of trucks that are hitting it; rental trucks who would be people moving into new homes and not familiar with the area, or people driving trucks who aren't familiar with increased truck heights. An even more likely scenario is that part of a truck has sheared off and landed in the car seat of a two year old in the car behind the truck.

I cannot fathom the liability that this bridge has, considering they have taken the time to put up video cameras to tape the resulting, and predictable carnage. A ambulance-chasing-attorney would do well if a fatality should ever occur.

NS, stick with farming.