'Can Opener Bridge' repeatedly ripping tops off of trucks

[UrbScotty]

A low bridge in North Carolina is shaving the tops of trucks. In fact, it happens so often one man has made it a mission to document the moment of impact.

It's a bridge over troubled traffic. A bridge too low, for trucks too tall, and for the past 5 years Jurgen Henn has been using cameras to record the results, and posting them on his website "11Foot8".

That happens to be the official clearance of the Gregson Street railroad trestle in Durham, North Carolina, affectionately known as the, "can opener bridge."

Some vehicles just get a shave, others get stopped cold. For nearby businesses it can be, "Almost earth shattering and people jump out of their chairs." Some get off easy; an RV loses its AC, a pod gets left behind.

http://www.khou.com/news/national/Can-Opener-Bridge-repeatedly-ripping-tops-off-of-trucks-202708311.html

[catnhatnh]

1. Rename it the "Reagan" Bridge...

...because before he deregulated the trucking industry drivers made more than minimum wage and cared enough to know the height of their loads...

[pansypoo53219]

2. there's one of those in milwaukee.

[Stuart G]

3. There was one in Evanston Illinois.. recently

sign said...11 feet 7 inches...and this tall truck starts under the first of two..not one railroad overpasses. One overpass is for Metra, and the other is for the CTA......so he gets past the first one..

.and I saw that truck.. go under...(never see trucks there) so...well...we will see..................................
.and then I drive my short car underneath the second underpass...which is lower than the first one..and................................
off to the side..is the truck with a crumpled roof....same truck I saw go under the first of two low bridges...so ..the jackass didn't read the sign, or didn't know how tall his truck was/is...surely didn't know the second one was worse than the first...

I guess he found out...eh???

[waddirum]

8. South Boulevard?

I've seen trucks make it under the CTA bridge and get hammered by the METRA bridge.

[Stuart G]

9. Church Street..

Whichever overpass is on the west side.. it is lower....Hard to know..they are so close together at Church Street, but yesterday, I drove by and that truck with the hammered roof was sitting in an alley a quarter block down on the west side of the overpass..who knows how long it will sit there. I am sure there will be more of them..

[mopinko]

13. metra bridge on touhy is a can opener.

at the end of my block. trucks backing up down my street daily.
seen a couple real beauties. walked down to look at a particularly bad one once and found the driver near tears. it was his first day driving on his own. figured he was fired.

[kurtzapril4]

10. I used to work at Northwestern

and that Church St. bridge was a truck killer! The one on Ashland north of Elston in Chicago, too!

[justgamma]

4. In the Quad Cities,

it's known as the "truck eating bridge". They have huge signs posted all over the place and trucks still run into it regularly.

[Doc_Technical]

5. Very amusing and nobody gets physically hurt.

Using the "Rocky" theme music to show how
tough this bridge is makes this video amusing.

http://dailypicksandflicks.com/2012/10/25/undefeated-worlds-toughest-bridge-in-durham-nc-video/

[Heywood J]

6. The worst part is when they see the flashing lights that go off

when you're over-height and they still go through.

[freshwest]

7. The Undefeated, Youtube version:

That is one well-built bridge there.

[oldandhappy]

11. Trucking companies know about this and trucks still go there??

Nuts.

[GreenStormCloud]

18. Watch the video closely. Only one of the trucks is a big rig.

Most of the trucks are rental trucks or local delivery trucks. For trucking companies, the company gives the destination address, the driver chooses the route.

There is a similar bridge in Memphis, TN that a lot of drivers hit. I-55N becomes single lane and curves to the right. It looks like an exit ramp, while the city street continues straight ahead, multi-lane. If the driver doesn't know about it, he will often go straight ahead. Abut 500 feet ahead is a 12 foot overhead bridge with a lot of chipped concrete where it has been hit.

When I used to be an over-the-road long-haul truck driver-trainer I would ask my dispatcher for a run that went through Memphis so I could point out that intersection and bridge to the student.

[oldandhappy]

19. muy interesting

thanks

[Cleita]

12. Don't they need a sign that says what height clearance is under the bridge?

We have them around here.

[DURHAM D]

14. They have lots of signage and

lights start flashing if a truck registers too high for clearance.

[Cleita]

15. Then it seems like the truck drivers are bone stupid then. n/t

[Javaman]

17. It's the bridge darwin award winning truck drivers . nt

[petronius]

16. We have a low railroad bridge near here with some chains hanging down at

clearance-height a hundred feet or so before the bridge - seems like a cheap and easy warning if a bridge is a particular problem...

They ought to paint victory marks on this bridge, one hash-mark for every defeated 'enemy' truck.