Just saw this on the news. Excavator looks like it could be brand new or close to it. Curious what kind of trailer it was on and how the boom was positioned. Maybe the the 1st time hauling an excavator? Am actually amazed they are calling it an excavator. Usually on the news they'll use some kind of generic term for equipment. Semi collision damages Whitemud overpass at southeast Edmonton Henday interchange - Edmonton | Globalnews.ca Parts of the Anthony Henday Drive interchange will remain closed for the foreseeable future, police and the province said, including the eastbound Whitemud Drive bridge. globalnews.ca
What kind of idiot drives around with a load that must have been around 6.0M high?? That damage isn't going to buff out. There's going to be a massive bill from that overpass repair job - let alone the excavator write-off.
It seems that most of these bridge encounters occur when the digger is in a boom forward position on the trailer and not being able to lower it enough because of the gooseneck.
There's just no excuse man. 5.3 m. Over 16 ft. The guy who should get fired is whoever hired that driver. Anybody knows when you look at your load the approximate height. That's the first one I've seen where it stripped it right off the truck too.
Maybe one of these guy's. Homeowners buying old giant excavators? Is this only viable for YouTubers looki ng to generate content? I have thirty acres on mountain side. My fantasy is to have giant excavator that works but is cheap. HeavyEquipmentForums
It's quite interesting that when the D10 hit a railway bridge at about 50MPH and was stuck under it at about a 75 deg. angle, there was damage but the bridge was still structurally sound.
We have a freeway overpass in the centre of Perth City and it gets hit every few years. Not sure on the original exact height of it, but it would have been at least around 14' 6" (4.4M). Surprisingly, it's not height marked. The last guy made a decent job of the destruction. Forgot to fold the excavator boom right down, it caught the underside of the overpass nicely, destroyed the excavator, tore the drop-deck extendable trailer apart, destroyed the trailer - and did around a couple of million dollars worth of damage to the overpass. The W.A. Dept of Main Roads spent 11 months installing a whole new 21M long support section under the overpass, and raised the clearance by 250mm (10"), because they admitted the original 1968 design didn't meet current height clearance dimensions. Hopefully, they've reinforced it to resist the next hit! Maximum standard height here is 4.3M (14.107'), it used to be an exact 14' in the old pre-metric days. Hay Street Bridge | Main Roads Western Australia We are increasing the clearance of the bridge over Mitchell Freeway to minimise the risk of oversized vehicles hitting the bridge. www.mainroads.wa.gov.au
More photos ...
Brings to mind the CW McCall song Wolf Creek Pass where the tunnel "Took the top row of chickens off slicker than scum off a Louisiana swamp"
At least it was a Hyundai.
Imagine how much more damage a Cat machine would have done... and cost to replace. LoL I wonder how much their insurance goes up when they cause extensive damage to a bridge? The driver might be lucky the machine appears to have been pulled off the trailer rather than a sudden stop. Still probably a pretty good jolt.
My broker told me the starting figure for the next years premiums, was the figure covering the total claim payout for your previous years insurance. From that start point you have to start explaining what you've done as regards company management improvements, that will ensure the insurance company has little chance of a similar payout. But regardless, after all the negotiation and re-negotiation, it's all about trying to find a company that will insure you the following year - especially if your previous insurer declines to renew your insurance cover.
I can never figure out what's with the guys putting the excavators on backwards like that. Maybe it is related to that silly wive's tale that half the guys out there seem to believe relating to the exhaust being pointed into the wind . . .
Well not as major a damage to bridge but don't think this trailer will be making it home to Texas after this one: This was I believe the 12th time this year this bridge has been hit! Most reports say the main cause is drivers using GPS for cars and not ones for trucks that show low bridges, not sure but that has been mentioned. I go down that road a few times a month and would not want to be around when that happens!
Tunnel vision-is the reason for the destruction in above photos.
There are two bridges very similar to this one in Harrisburg Pennsylvania (the state Capital) that are located on 4 lane one-way roads. The two roads are the main roads in and out of the city and get hit on average once or twice a month each I would guess. I've often wondered how no one seems to be able to force the rail companies to raise the old bridges to accommodate the roads underneath them. In some cases I've seen the roadways lowered, but you can only go so far in each direction. I feel bad for the truckers, because like you said, their GPS sends them there, and even if they don't hit the bridge they are stuck in four lanes of one-way traffic with no way to get out in the middle of a city. Poor modern infrastructure not keeping up with the times for all the billions of dollars spent on infrastructure bills over the last 30 years.
Rand McNally Truck GPS-shows all truck routes, notes all low clearance bridges. With all the techno geek internet info available trucks hitting bridges should be a rare occasion. Truck GPS is updated regularly. A driver that is not running a regular route should be making himself aware of construction/accessibility for such route. As far as making sure a load is not over height, well if it is and not checked that's just laziness. Tough thing to stop stupid, but a bridge will.
And the funny thing is if a truck makes it under that bridge the next one a short distance away is this one: There is a turn off between them if the first one wakes you up!
He must have loaded the machine in the park for the night position with the stick up right. If it was knuckled down at all, it would shove the machine down
Saw a commie 300 size long reach loaded forward on a Saiia lowboy yesterday going south of I-65. Saiia is a division of Mastech so they have safety running out their noses. Still thought it was very odd. Wife has a subscription to a GPS service for campers that shows all the low bridges. The last thing I want to be is a clip in a Youtube video with the 2 ac units spinning on the asphalt. Always get a laugh out of this channel -
Our 5th wheel would make that one. It was a requirement. We don't want our trailer to have a 5-head.
I like that, was a great video, one of the best with great entertainment. A customized RSH.
I think some drivers forget they're carrying oversize loads. They're driving along no problems and coming up to a bridge they don't even think about it. A big note in the cab to watch for bridges or overhead wires might help remind them.
Too many distractions in the cab, at home, in life in general. Too many concerns about being detained at a dock to make the next appointed pickup. E-Log has added to that, talk radio, dispatch, cell calls, traffic/construction tie-ups, not feeling good physically or mentally plus a bad diet all add to incidents. Behind every incident lies a issue that more than likely lead up to it and it isn't just driving.----------- The kid needs braces-how am I going to pay for it? .
You need to drive like your riding a motorcycle, 110% aware of everything around you. You can't afford to be distracted... it could kill you!
Looks like the dump height spec on the excavator got raised a couple feet after that.
Lifting capacity took a hit though.
anyone remember the I-5 bridge collapse in 2013? This is the oversize load that took it down. That was a pretty effective sledgehammer. this is what he left behind him. He had enough room in the left lane.
I remember that real well.
I agree, we can easily get a 374 excavator under 14’ 6” during transport, this was either laziness or inexperience.
if we’re swapping bridge destruction stories, here’s one that happened on I465 in Indianapolis in 2017, a transport company was hauling a mobile car crusher when the hydraulic arm “suddenly activated” I can only assume it was either running (if powered by an engine) or was not isolated from power. Arm came up and collided with the Hwy 36 bridge. The damage resulted in removing an entire section of the bridge deck at a settlement cost of $1.3M, I would have guessed more. I’m sure the fines for having the interstate closed for 2-3 days were astronomical. The most impressive part of this was this photo, a piece of concrete crashed through this Persons windshield and luckily no one was injured.
I'd say the first picture was quite impressive! That axle and all the rest of that damage is tremendous.