Truck stuck in underpass
Traffic diverted for more than 3 hours
By Bobbi Mlynar (Contact)
Monday, February 11, 2008
The driver of a semi-tractor trailer held up traffic for more than three hours Monday evening after he attempted to drive the truck through the underpass between 2nd and 4th Avenues on Mechanic Street.
The truck became lodged in the underpass more than one-third of the way through and could not be moved by letting air out of its tires.
Police cars and traffic cones blocked traffic from both sides while tow-truck workers tried to free the semi.
In the end, the workers deflated tires and let down the trailer’s dolly legs, which resemble huge jack stands, and peeled away much of the trailer’s metal siding before it would budge from the underpass. The dollies left two trails of white-scuffed asphalt as the tow truck pulled it away from the trap.
The truck was loaded with rice.
Details of the incident, including the driver’s name, were not yet available.
Comments
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Posted by emporian (anonymous) on February 11, 2008 at 10:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Wouldn't that be Mechanic Street? There is no underpass on merchant st. between 4th and 5th. There is no overpass on Mechanic St. Between 4th and 5th. Between 3rd and 4th yes. Does the Gazette not know their own town?
Posted by my2cents (anonymous) on February 11, 2008 at 10:17 p.m. (Suggest removal)
That's not nearly as big of a mistake as the driver made...could have sworn that those bridges are labeled with their height for a reason...that's a "Here's your sign" moment if ever there was one.
Posted by hartford (anonymous) on February 12, 2008 at 12:03 a.m. (Suggest removal)
between 2nd and 4th Avenues on Mechanic Street.
That is what I read above. I didn't see anything about Merchant street.
Posted by emporian (anonymous) on February 12, 2008 at 2:10 a.m. (Suggest removal)
They changed it after it was brought to their attention.
Posted by eatasheep69 (anonymous) on February 12, 2008 at 7:06 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Sure they did, "emporian". Whatever.
Is it your job to find errors and point them out to everyone?
You need a new hobby where your energies can be better directed to improving our community. What you're doing here really doesn't benefit anyone.
Posted by madpoet (anonymous) on February 12, 2008 at 10:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I have to wonder how fast that semi was going to get wedged that badly. It's a 30 mph zone there isn't it? A few years back a truck got stuck under the 50 underpass east of town. No mention of that in the paper and I know it closed highway 50 for several hours at least. Who has to pay for the cleanup from the mess? Was the load spilled? Not like rice is toxic but would probably have to go to the landfill. I hope it comes out of the trucker's pocket, not ours.
Posted by olddog (anonymous) on February 14, 2008 at 1:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)
From what I was told by another truck driver was that the driver was canadian and might have read the measurements thinking they were in metric ... Some states measure these clearence situations differently. Maybe they should all be measured the same to prevent these kinds of accidents if thats the case.
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