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11 Foot 8 – The Can-opener Bridge

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Re: 11 Foot 8 – The Can-opener Bridge

#2

Post by mauvehaus »

Boston is home to any number of bridges that trucks don't fit under, most famously on Storrow Drive.

Rating truck/bridge interactions has become a bit of a past time on universalhub:

https://www.universalhub.com/storrow

Every year when college students move back in and out, the powers that be put up illuminated construction signs everywhere to try to keep the number of rental trucks on roads they shouldn't be to a minimum. They're mostly successful.

Re: 11 Foot 8 – The Can-opener Bridge

#3

Post by sebastien_bois »

Still not high enough. They raised it another 8 inches to make it an even 12ft not too long ago, but evidently that still not enough.

One would think they would've looked more closely at the traffic on that road and adjusted it accordingly.

It's also really silly to have a sign indicating that too large vehicles must turn, which most drivers won't read/see in time, and practically force them to crash into the bridge, instead of having some sort of 'bumpers' ahead of the bridge for those vehicles to bump into first (I've seen those at entrances of parking lots that have both above ground and underground parking).

Re: 11 Foot 8 – The Can-opener Bridge

#4

Post by teraflop »

sebastien_bois wrote: post #3

Still not high enough. They raised it another 8 inches to make it an even 12ft not too long ago, but evidently that still not enough. One would think they would've looked more closely at the traffic on that road and adjusted it accordingly. It's also really silly to have a sign indicating that too large vehicles must turn, which most drivers won't read/see in time, and practically force them to crash into the bridge,…

> a sign indicating that too large vehicles must turn, which most drivers won't read/see in time

When the sign activates, it also causes the traffic light to turn red. In theory, that provides plenty of time to notice and respond to the sign; in practice, collisions still happen because people just run the red light.

If someone's sufficiently determined to do something stupid and reckless, there's only so much you can do to discourage them.

> instead of having some sort of 'bumpers' ahead of the bridge for those vehicles to bump into first

That's what the big yellow beam is; it was installed to protect the bridge. If something was installed farther away (i.e. before the intersection) it would get in the way of large vehicles that were intending to turn before the bridge.

Re: 11 Foot 8 – The Can-opener Bridge

#9

Post by teraflop »

hattar wrote: post #7

Why not place an arch before the bridge that will impact but not damage vehicles going through? This exists in the entrance to most parking garages. Edit: like this https://www.jpsiteexperts.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/cle...

Placing an obstacle between the bridge and the intersection would be fairly pointless, because once you hit it, it would be too late to stop before hitting the bridge.

(EDIT: in addition, a hanging warning sign would have to be suspended from something. My guess is any such structure would need to be made very sturdy and expensive, or else it would just get knocked down and increase the hazard to pedestrians and property when somebody hits the sign at significant speed.)

Placing the obstacle anywhere else would impede vehicles that aren't trying to go under the bridge.

Re: 11 Foot 8 – The Can-opener Bridge

#10

Post by chrisseaton »

What is so special about this bridge? Why do people drive under it without checking their height? You wouldn't normally think you can just drive under any bridge, would you?

It doesn't even look like a very low bridge. Why do people approach it without a care in the world at full speed?

My vehicle is only 2m tall and I still do take a quick look at height signs as I approach them.

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