A trucker may be stuck with an over half-million-dollar repair bill after his vehicle struck a bridge and it collapsed on top of him.
It was driver Matthew Haney’s second trip of the day under the bridge and the first one had been uneventful. The second one was significantly less so. When driving on the Northwest Expressway in Oklahoma City, Haney’s truck struck the bridge with such force that it dragged the entire section down on top of it.
Haney had to be removed from the truck by rescue workers, but amazingly was uninjured.
The bridge had a posted clearance height of 14’ 8” from one direction and 14’ 4” from the other. According to Haney, his truck measured only 12’ 8”, so should have cleared the bridge going both directions.
Haney’s truck had a boom basket which would have made the height significantly taller, but Haney claims that after he made his delivery he lowered the basket before he started back in the other direction.
According to a witness however, that’s not what happened. He claims that the boom was never lowered again which would explain how a truck only 12’ 8” high would be able to hit a bridge with a clearance almost 2’ higher.
“A Penn Square Mall (witness) stated he saw the driver deliver the two-man lift,” an officer’s report said according to The Oklahoman. “After the delivery the truck left with the boom still raised in the air. (The witness) stated he did not see the driver raise the boom, but did see the driver not lower the boom prior to leaving the Penn Square parking lot.”
Repairs for the bridge are estimated at between $500,000-$750,000 with an additional $50,000-$60,000 for cleanup and debris removal.
oooppps!
Could the Hydraulics have leaked internal, and with the PTO still on, have allowed the boom to raise ?
Not too much brightness there
DOH”’
That’s why I drive a dry van or a reefer. No odd problems. Just standard issue b.s.
if he went under it once with the boom raised he should have still been able to go under it the second time .Friend of mine hit a bridge that was marked at 13’8″ .The truck he was driving set at 13’4″ . There were two bridges one east and the other west . He hit the one that was 13’0″ which was the second bridge bacause he made it under the first one which was marked but the second one wasn’t.
was the second trip made under the bridge while the truck was unloaded? That could make the difference between clearing and not clearing…fully loaded, sits lower, empty box, rides higher…
There’s a bridge on the north side of Amarillo that has a center support so it’s essentially two tunnels. Heading north, they’re both marked at like 13-8 or something. But after passing thru, if you look back, the left tunnel is marked at 12-4.
I want the name of the boom manufacturer. $750,000 damage to a bridge from just a 2-man boom? Sounds like some solid workmanship.
Alternatively, maybe the bridge was about to collapse under it’s own weight.
This is back home and one of the local stations ran a piece that the bridge was built back in the 50’s or 60’s but no recent record of inspection.
I think that driver needs to look into how old this bridge is and the last time it was inspected. OK yeah he it. But doesn’t mean he has to flip the bill to put a new bridge to replace an old one.
same here–heavy haul thruout the area–nutin bad about Oklahoma folks– but cattle trails are in better shape then okie roads
Well, the bridge in this instance, sounds like it was due for demolition!…….this may be a blessing in disguise!
Highways are paved and re-paved for many years, which raises the surface of the road. This, of course, reduces the height clearance over years. What does not happen over the years is re-measuring and replacing the bridge height clearance signs with accurate clearances by the Departments of Transportation. States regularly issue overheight permits and even designate the route the load must follow, many times sending the load under overpasses that have less actual clearance than posted! However, the states bear no responsibility or liability if a bridge on a designated route is struck by an overheight load, even if the load height is accurate. The best advice for high load haulers: never trust your permit! Review the route; if there is even a shadow of a doubt, measure the bridge yourself, hire an escort company to survey the route for you, or go around it. If more companies would do this as a matter of policy, this type of nightmare could be avoided and public safety would be increased.
One word…pre-trip!
Maybe he should sue the bridge for pouncing on him then framing him as the culprit.