Andrew Cuomo put $25 million into this year’s budget to pay for enhanced technology to help curb bridge strikes. In Virginia, the transportation department also uses electronic detection systems and warning signs to alert drivers of oversized vehicles and direct them to the nearest exit or pull-off area.Īnd in New York, Democratic Gov. In Texas, which had about a hundred reported bridge strikes last year, transportation officials have installed 20 such over-height warning systems that use LED beams and flashing lights. To prevent them, more states and cities are using infrared sensors and lasers that detect tall vehicles and warn drivers to turn around or take another route. “There have been bridges that have been brought down or severely damaged to the point they have to be replaced.” “Bridge strikes are potentially catastrophic,” said Darrin Roth, a vice president at the American Trucking Associations, a trade group. ![]() They damage valuable infrastructure, create epic traffic jams and can be hazardous for other drivers who may be pelted with fallen debris or forced to swerve into another car. So-called bridge strikes occur all over the country when trucks or their loads are too tall to pass under highway bridges and overpasses. “I’ve never seen damage that bad in 30 years,” said Ted Kniazewycz, director of the Tennessee Department of Transportation’s structures division. Nobody was hurt, but the driver’s mistake snarled rush-hour traffic and forced workers to labor for more than 16 hours to remove the damaged beam and extricate the truck. The driver of the tractor-trailer that was hauling the tanker had ventured more than a hundred miles from his approved route through Arkansas and west Tennessee. The Caterpillar tanker truck weighed 70,000 pounds, and when it struck an overpass above Interstate 65 in downtown Nashville in April 2018, it twisted one of the steel support beams as if it were a pipe cleaner.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |