Maggie's Farm

The wonder is that the truck-rental companies have not done something about it.

The sign's "accuracy" is irrelevant. That bridge has detectors connected to a sign that says "If the lights are flashing, you WILL hit the bridge".

http://11foot8.com/the-actual-clearance-of-the-11foot8-bridge/


I remember dragging a 13' 6" dry van around Chicago and around NYC. A cat in a room full of rocking chairs has an easier time of it. A number of times I hung back until another driver got through safely. New York's signs are seriously weird.

Most fun is the Chesapeake Bay tunnel--placarded at 13' 6". Daughter (also a driver) had told me about it so I was not worried, but is is uncomfortable looking up out of the windshield.

One of the tunnels into Manhattan is also placarded at 13" 6" and I was not prepared for that so when I got to the tool booth I asked about it and here answer was "I can hear you", which seemed odd, so I asked again and got the same response. Eventually, she told me that if the detectors didn't like me, the bells would be so loud she would not be able to hear me.

Which made sense.

Long story short: There is no reason why a driver should ever clang into a bridge or run his tandems over a curb (or anything else but road).

Watch the on-screen captions,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_-n0NqJKse8

1. In any dispute, if a railroad is involved, the railroad is wrong. (Have you ever seen a report that does NOT say some form of "the train collided with the vehicle EVEN IF THE collision was with the side of a rail-car"?)

2. In any dispute, if a truck is involved, the trucker is wrong. Even if the second vehicle rear-ends of runs into the side of the truck.

3. If a train and a truck collide, in general use rule 1 although occasionally local biases will override.

The simple truth is the train operator has few maneuvering options available.

In the case here, there is not much the railroad CAN do--raising the bridge is not an easy matter and will involve additional operating expense for every train after the raising. Attempts to lower the roadbed may have serious (read "expensive) implications, not the least of which would be the EIR.

I have no knowledge outside of what we see here, but I will guess that the road installed the protective beam, the sign and lights and detector (and may maintain them).