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Another islingtoning at Westwood bridge, but this one was slow and gentle
By adamg on Mon, 08/24/2015 - 9:34pm
A Westwood Police surveillance camera captured another truck hitting the train bridge over East Street (skip ahead to 0:30), but this one was nothing compared to the one last week. As police put it:
Minor damage to the truck, Bridge is still doing great.
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Comments
rules?
Apparently, the rules that lead police dept's to so frequently 'not comment due to pending charges" don't count for vehicle vs bridge incidents on the mean streets of Westwood.
: - )
what is
islingtoning?
If a truck that hits a bridge on Storrow ...
Has storrowed, then a truck that hits a bridge in the Islington section of Westwood has islingtonned.
OK, it's a stretch and too obscure, I'll admit.
It doesn't roll off the
It doesn't roll off the tongue as easily as storrowing...
http://www.universalhub.com/2015/excellence-storrowing-westwood-bridge#c...
So, The Truck Slows Way Down, Not Sure If It Can Fit Through ...
... but then decides: Oh well, let's just try it and find out.
Are there no warning signs?
I realize all the videos of these incidents have been from the police surveillance camera, so they'll all show the same signs or lack thereof, but why is there no big LOW BRIDGE message on the side of the thing, with the height of it? I assume most truck drivers know the height of their trucks, and would react to such a warning.
tons of warning signs
There are tons of signs leading up to the bridge. These accidents have been happening for decades. The MBTA finally put the bridge on its priority list and it is in the design and planning stage I think, to be rebuilt in a few years.
I believe a large part of the problem is truck drivers reliance on GPS and possibly using non-commercial units (e.g. their iphones) which route them under the bridge. Supposedly, commercial gps devices "know" to avoid the underpass.
There is a long and storied history to this bridge; the MBTA had a plan to rebuild it many years ago (like 10-20 at least), but supposedly, there was a public meeting where residents objected to everything. Since then, there have been more recent meetings and the residents and board of selectmen are all 100% behind getting the MBTA to do something...state reps and senator pushing for it...etc. But nothing has happened yet.
The most effective change in the past decade was the town DPW put up sticks on the side of the road that has stopped the cars from bouncing off the curb.
but supposedly, there was a
Simple solution. Every time a truck hits the overpass, assess the residents for the cost of damages. Then let's see how quickly they say "Hey, it may not be such a bad idea if we let the state replace that bridge with a taller one.
Simple solution
The town's residents are responsible for making a rail bridge higher for the commuter rail line?
Read the previous posts
The local residents originally BLOCKED making the rail bridge higher for the commuter rail line. If the consequence of their decison to block a necessary and beneficial project is overheight trucks consistently hitting the bridge, then they should be held directly tesponsible for the costs of those hits.
Read the previous posts
The local residents AGREED to letting the railroad make changes.
But they originally blocked the changes
which is why we are still having problems at this location. That's what my comment was responding to.
The bridge is already at a
The bridge is already at a low spot that's prone to occasional flooding. Could they lower the road and put in some sort of drainage/pumping system, I wonder?
The nearly identical bridge on the Dedham side of East St. is about a foot higher, but I recall when I was a kid seeing a truck carrying a pile of old tires going through and sending tires bouncing all over the road.
Since then, there have been
I'm sure they'll get around to it as soon as they finish that Green Line Extension.
There was another sign
The big sign that used to be on the bridge warning of the low bridge was taken out by a truck earlier this year.
Maybe it needs a billboard
displaying the previous bridge hit, as the explosion happened.
Warning signs?
What's the matter, can't you see the tiny white sign in the lower-right hand part of the screen? I'm sure they could have made it smaller and more unobtrusive if they had tried.
It is weird, Google Maps
It is weird, Google Maps shows there used to be a much better sign where you could actually read the height.
https://goo.gl/maps/qZFX9
There used to be one on the
There used to be one on the trestle, too, apparently, for all the good it does now.
The sign on the trestle
was knocked off by the last truck that hit the bridge. For all their waling about "Yeah, we've decided to agree with the T's plan to fix this problem", seems that the Town would be more proactive about replacing a critical warning sign.
There are several more signs
There are several more signs and signals now than there were in July '12 when Google Maps went by.
(-1 that got knocked off the bridge in a recent incident)
Oy.
Oy.
Adam, idea: Write up a brief FAQ about Storrow Dr, and this bridge, and when people post the same &%^$#@! questions over and over about these incidents, we can just tell them to RTF FAQ.
I was in Islington today...
So I took pictures of the warning signs a driver sees in the block and a half between Washington Street and this bridge. There are more than people usually see on Google Maps. (Though I think the paint on the actual bridge is new since the last time a truck hit it.)
I like
how the drivers proactively hang back, knowing what's probably coming.
That spot is bad for all
That spot is bad for all drivers. The road gets so narrow there, If you cross another car under that bridge at the same time you just have to pray they are a good driver. Forget about a truck, you have no good enough warning and almost no way to turn around with the area already having constant traffic passing through, its a nightmare. Look at the tiny sign that is placed in a spot that would be too late to make changes. Turn left...? Where?
Turn left on Strafford Rd.,
Turn left on Strafford Rd., the next intersection, before the bridge.
Those signs are a lot farther from the bridge than they appear in the video.
Now lets put in signs
that drivers can actually read. Instead we get postage stamps to convey critical "last chance not to screw up" information.
Yeah, compare the size of the
Yeah, compare the size of the letters in the "Caution 10' - 6" low bridge ahead trucks must turn left" sign with the "Grooved pavement ahead" sign. Which of those would you be able to read while driving?
If only there were a nationwide standard for the design and size of such signs, with federal and state laws requiring local governments to use said standard.
Wouldn't "westwooding" be
Wouldn't "westwooding" be better?
How hard do we think the crew
How hard do we think the crew in that trash truck on the other side of the bridge were laughing while this went down?
Gotta love Massholes
"What do you mean I have to back up to let the truck out?? Then I wouldn't be moving forward, in my car!!"
The cop waved them through.
The cop waved them through.
Before that, when the truck
Before that, when the truck was stopped and nobody moved.
The bridge has its own Twitter account
Looks to be new, so it has only the most recent victims.
https://twitter.com/bridge_east