Trucking Company Owes $900,000 For Bridge Repairs

Height stick - $150.

 

You can't honestly expect anyone to truely believe some little tin can ####box caused nearly $1 million in bridge damage. That bridge must've been in pretty poor condition already.

 

While your likely not wrong you would also be suprised how little it takes to mess up a bridge and how much equipment to fix it. Also keep in mind that looks like a chevy cargo van those weigh around 5000 pounds. 5000 pounds at 55 mph plus whatever the chains add before they snap (not sure of speed limit there) your going to get quite a bit of force.

Thats enough to bend I beams, shift and crack concrete, snap internal cables ect. Then the parts of the bridge now experinceing extra weight above design will start to deform and also need to be replaced.

Sure the physical damage itself may be minor looking but between the Xrays. Digging concrete up to replace parts as well as adjoining parts that may have experinced stress above what they are rated for then properly resealing it and setting up nee concrete, the cost of Ibeams and cranes and everything else, the truckd to move it as well as the crews to install it all plus all the #### osha requires.....it adds up really fast.

 

Rolled past one of these about an hour after it hit an overpass and got ripped clean off the trailer. Overpass was open for business when I came back through 10 hours later. This is where my skepticism comes from. Just can't see a 5,000 lb car causing the damage they claim.

 

If you want to see damage repair prices that will bankrupt you, hit a railroad undercrossing sometime. They immediately shut down all rail traffic and start checking things. The delay costs for those trains run into huge amounts.
Mis-alignment of track is their big thing. If the track is knocked even a little off kilter it has to be replaced, new ties put in, new ballast, and that's expensive too.
If the crossing is posted for height and you hit it, it's all on you. If the crossing isn't posted it's still on you but you might not get hit quite so hard when you go to court.
Add attorney's fees, court costs, having your truck out of service, damage to whatever you were hauling, and the fact that most insurance companies have a clause about "committing any illegal activity" to keep from paying off...you might as well sell everything and get a job changing tires somewhere.
That's exactly how we got into the rgn business when one of our competitors tried to get under a rail crossing with a Washington yarder on the deck. We bought as much of his equipment as we could use, he went bankrupt, dove into a whiskey bottle and died a couple of years later.

 

Turns out that the bridge was hit and damaged back in December by another truck. The car carrier probably just helped it along..

CDL Life blows for giving any real details..as always.

By reading the link I posted It becomes very clear now. First truck to hit it was an independent with empty pockets..The car carrier company must be good sized with money so they are going after them.

Oregon sees the funds now to fix one of their dilapidated bridges so now it’s an emergency situation with maximum safety drama

Read the article, it’s a joke.

Accidents lead to costly repairs on Highway 20 in Corvallis

 

Such as in the wreck of the Sunset Limited…..

 

Bi

Big Bayou Canot? Yeah, that was ugly.

 

Yes. I put my hand on the concrete pier that still has the indention from the impact. Drove across the bridge in my Freightliner Hirail truck. I have a picture I took of the monument on the east side of the river. Kinda eerie in a sense when it’s quiet and you think of those who were trying to survive as well as help others.

My EIC ( Employee in Charge) when I took the equipment out in to the swamp for a cable job told us about that night.

He was there shortly after the wreck. He said if the engine could have went another 50 feet the engineers possibly may have survived. He said when the engine plowed in to the ground, the engine buried into the soft marsh, and exploded the glass out crushing the engineers against the back of the cab.

I can’t remember precisely Reo, but I’m thinking he said the rail was like 27” out of alignment. When the Sunset cleared the yard and Chicasaboue (spelling) bridge it started picking up speed.

Bayou Canot is a couple miles north from there…. Actually east but going from Mobile to Pensacola is north bound to csx, and Mobile to Gintilly yard in New Orleans is south bound to csx.