Truck Lodged Under Peace Street Rail Bridge Sunday Night

Reader Margo was nice enough to send in pictures of the tractor-trailer lodged beneath Capital Blvd bridge over Peace Street.

I was out walking tonight around 7:30 pm and saw the semi truck stuck under the Peace Street rail bridge.
The roof of the trailer was ripped apart and the cops were picking up the metal scraps off the ground. I’m not sure how the truck got as far underneath the bridge as it did, but you can see from the pics that the driver made it halfway before grinding to a halt.

Thanks Margo!

Anonymous09/22 12:00 PM

How do you not see all the signs and the flashing yellow lights?

revolu09/22 12:26 PM

i got there right after this happened. metal everywhere….pretty amazing he did get that far under the bridge…the bridge seemed pretty stout. it didn’t seem to budge at all.

sarah emily09/22 12:50 PM

It’s not the first time, nor the last I’m sure.

RaleighRob09/22 02:36 PM

If there isn’t already, there should be automatic points put on a truck driver’s record for “Not knowing how tall your damn truck is”.

bowed bridges09/22 02:55 PM

they better as hell check the structural integrity of the bridge after it!

Jedidiah09/22 03:05 PM

I saw this last night as well and we looked back to see the sign that said - Low Clearance 12’4” but the truck was probably already at a good speed going down that hill to stop. Our question was…“shouldn’t drivers know appropriate routes”?

Leo09/22 03:27 PM

Trucking FAIL!

luke09/22 03:29 PM

this happens a lot more than you might think. it’s not quite as common as people driving the wrong way down morgan street, but it’s up there.

15009/22 03:39 PM

Luke: Sadly, you’re probably right about the Morgan Street thing.

eek09/22 07:33 PM

It has less to do with how tall the trailer is and more with how long it is. Because of the way the hill bottoms out at the bridge, a trailer that comes in under the height requirement may still get stuck if the bed is long enough.

They need to compute and post the maximum length as well as height.

Lisa Jeffries09/22 08:22 PM

Time to let the air out of the tires!

Happens on Duke Street (IIRC) in Downtown Durham (near the DBAP) alllll the time.

Oberlin09/22 09:26 PM

I saw a Pepsi truck stuck under the train track bridge just up the road on Peace about 4 years ago. I definitely hope that there is a requirement by the city, or DOT that forces the trucking company to pay for a structural engineer.

brian_M09/22 11:49 PM

This has happened several times over the years…the most jarring of which was just a year or so ago, with a truck just like this lodged underneath, and a train with a couple of locomotives stopped right overhead! How many times can this trestle be hit like this and still be sound?

VaNC09/23 10:59 AM

I have seen this at least four times myself, so it must be more than that. I, too, worry about the integrity of the bridge!

revolu09/23 12:40 PM

trains coming through right now. fingers crossed.

scaredy cat09/23 05:29 PM

yikes!! all of these good points. Now I’m paranoid. I drive under that bridge multiple times daily - would hate for a train to come crashing down on me & many others due to unsound bridge…... I wonder where we can investigate this further??

oberlin09/23 06:34 PM

I apologize as my comment may have confused the focus of this article, the truck above hit the Capital Blvd bridge, not the railroad bridge. Nonetheless, it appears that several of us have seen trucks hit the railroad bridge on Peace near Glenwood, so it does seem to happen fairly often. I do hope the railroad has their own inspectors who check on these things after any accident occurs with their railways though.

Margo09/26 10:14 PM

No, it hit the railroad bridge. The headline is a misprint - read the text I sent in.

How frequently do trucks hit this bridge? Now I’m nervous too!

Oberlin09/27 02:57 AM

You’re right! Sorry Margo, thanks for the correction!

RightByHere10/01 01:14 AM

I’ve owned a business right by this spot for 5 years now. This is the first time in this many years I have seen something hit it. I can tell you that NS always works on the tracks by here and I doubt they will let any train cars fall off of it because the cost of those are extremely high. I don’t understand the scare as I walk under, walk over, walk by, and drive under it daily. It’s good to go.

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David Monday, September 22, 2008