21K fine for overweight truck on the bridge in Naperville, IL

I wonder with all the problems with bridges falling apart across the nation, if this was a new sign for this bridge. It would pay to have a laptop and internet service to scroll areas with possible train trestles and water crossings, esp in all of these old area.

 

A lady who I worked with in MS had her neighbor killed on the bridge collapse, he had just started work on the bridge maybe a few days before its' collapse. It was not too long after this that bridges came under closer scrutiny for problems.

 

Here is the thing...
You are all talking about confusing signs and revenue collection and talking fines down, and you are missing the most important point.

You willfully seriously overloaded a weak bridge!

You saw a sign that said the bridge was only able to handle a certain weight, you did the math, you realized you were overweight, and then you drove over the bridge.

This is like running a 14 foot high trailer under a 13 foot high bridge, and then complaining that it was posted as a Truck Route, so why are they fining you for it.

Yes, you made it over, this time, but you could have just as easily had the bridge collapse under you, drowning the school bus full of kids coming across it, and costing the city millions of dollars to replace the bridge.

There is no comparison to a weight limit on a street, which is a form of keeping trucks out, and also to reduce repair costs to the street (and maybe because it is a poorly built road), but worst case scenario you sink in and they have to pave a pothole.

So treat bridge weight limits just the same as you treat low clearance signs.

It is not negotiable.

Oh, and they make the fines so high to teach truck drivers not to collapse bridges!

 

#### did they develop that area.

21K yaaaahhhh. Worst I ever got was 3000 for the company on a 137K at Stephens City VA one horrible day... 21K.. whooo that's.. ELE, extinction level event.

 

I'm surprised that they didn't also charge him for an inspection of the bridge, some of these counties are just so anal about things even if permits were issued.

I got a bill for this on a delivery by one of my driver's who was permitted to cross a low weight bridge because there was no other way to the delivery, the cops were ok, issuing state agency was ok but the weights and measures people just lost their mind, so they insisted on getting the bridge inspected and sent me the bill, which I sent it to the company who sent it off to the customer who paid it without question - $41,239.23.

 

They paid 41,000 clams instantly?!

SERIOUSLY?!

 

What actually surprises is that they would permit large overages on weak bridges! Lol
I guess some bridges are rated low because of the design, and overloading it would just fatigue the structure, maybe bend so metal or stretch some bolts, so they have to inspect it afterwards.

I think that is wrong to permit an action, and then fine for doing it, but I suspect that the weights and measures folks didn't know that the desk sitters were allowing it... Lol
I can picture the conversations later!

In the OP case, the inspections may be regular anyway, so the overweight fees just pay into the budget for it.

 

The weight limit could be per truck and the truck can carry 4? Trucks. So permitting 1 truck to drive over, is ok.
Gotta pay for the bureaucrats somehow.

 

Next to some bridges is a tiny red and white picture book sign. Three axle fire truck. Under each axle is a weight rating.

You will be pleased to discover that 4 ton rated wooden bridge will accept a 30K on a set of tandems.

 

Yup, some of those wooden bridges are really sturdy, because you may only have a 20 foot span between supports.
When you get to girder bridges that might be 50 or a hundred feet between supports, so the entire weight of the truck is one one section, the math gets more complicated...