PHILADELPHIA — A truck carrying an oversized load struck a railroad bridge crossing over Interstate 95 on Monday, closing the northbound lanes of the highway indefinitely and shutting down a portion of NJ Transit’s Atlantic City commuter rail service.
The Conrail bridge in northeast Philadelphia was hit about 1:30 p.m.; after railroad engineers assessed damage, the highway was closed as of 10 p.m. for what the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation says will be “several days” of repairs. Motorists are being advised to avoid the area because significant backups and delays will occur as a detour sends traffic onto surface streets; more details are available here.
Meanwhile, NJ Transit has announced the Atlantic City service, which uses the bridge, is suspended between Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station and Cherry Hill, N.J. Substitute bus service is being offered, and PATCO — the Port Authority Transit Corp. line between Philadelphia and Lindenwold, N.J. — is also honoring NJ Transit tickets and passes.
Coming back to the bridge in Philadelphia.
The bridge over I-95 is the lead to the Delair Bridge over the Delaware River and is the principal link to South Jersey, ex-PRR, now used by CR and NJT. The Pensauken (PRR’s spelling) is on the bridge and is a pedestrian connection between NJT’s Atlantic City Line on the bridge with the NJT River Line from Trenton to Camden on the surface.
The line itself is ex-PRR and is the rail route between Frankford Junction on the current AMTK Phila-NY line and Haddonfield on the ex-PRR WJ&S line from Camden to ACY, later PRSL.
The truck that struck the bridge was carrying was a large oval cylinder and had a 3-axle tractor and a 4-axle lowboy trailer. There is no report the truck did not have a permit.
Thanks for the info on the truck and its load.
Paul D. you are correct about taking measurements. A number of years ago in Omaha a UP surfacing gang worked an area and a double stacker got routed over the track. A number of the containers lost their tops when they struck a highway bridge… It was one of those Ops my BAD probably should have rechecked the height.
I know because it happend to me when I worked for Conrail’s clearance bureau. Based on the charts I had I cleared a 17′ 5″ load through a bridge. It struck the bridge damaging the load. Metro-North resurfaced the dip under the bridge and never remeasured the restriction and didn’t tell anyone.
Just wondering? Could that oversize load have been a container on a flat bed instead of on a chassis designed for moving containers? I know of several bridge strikes that happened that way. Some of these small carriers don’t have enough insurance to buy a gallon of paint.
How the heck does something like this happen that was not caused by mechanical or natural forces? Every bridge on any highway has a known minimum height and those parameters are clearly spelled out on any state or federal DOT map. How do you move an OVERSIZED LOAD without having to submit a trip plan to the local authorities or coordinating with the PDOT/NJDOT? The company will pay. They may have to be sued to get it but they failed to plan the route and they will pay and should pay. That is what liability insurance is for…
I would not be so sure about how much the ship and shipping company who
ship destroyed the bridge in Baltimore will actually have to pay. The shipping company will try and use maritime law to insulated themselves from the actual costs to replace the bridge.
Not comparable… like comparing Apples and Oranges. The ship was mechanically disabled. It was in the power of gravity. They notified authorities what was going to happen as soon as they could. The truck, on the other hand, was operating obviously without concern for hazards in the way and at a speed in which stopping was impossible. Yes, both are responsible, but only one party had a chance to do anything about it to avoid a problem once it was underway, the trucking company. A moving & rigging company would not have made this mistake. They travel at much slower speeds. Getting the job done in a hurry and not planning carefully for all events seems to be the root cause of this accident.
It is a good thing that they can probably fix the bridge in place. The trucking company should be the one to pay to fix the bridge. Unless of course the PA DOT did major work under the bridge and didn’t bother to remeasure the clearance for high and wide load permits.
Was anyone concerned when federal funds were immediately deployed to Now Orleans following the huge hurricane? How about the bridge collapse on I-35 in Minnesota? Roads, bridges, ports, etc. are constantly of Federal concern. I believe had President Biden declared that there would not be comprehensive funding, the same voices would be calling him incompetent.
Hurricane Katrina was an act of nature. The bridge in Minneapolis collapsed on its own. The bridge in Baltimore was taken down by a ship which is insured for liability.
Our government’s job is to tell the ship’s insurance company to pay up front in full —- OR ELSE …
Biden’s job is to protect the American taxpayer —- a concept which is as foreign to him as a Martian living in a yurt in Mongolia.
Is Biden paying for the repairs here as well?
Mr. Biden has proclaimed the Tuesday after Easter as the “Day of Visibility of Infinite and Unlimited Federal Expenditure as Directed by the President With or Without a Vote by Congress”.