My all-time favorite picture for this situation is: ON THE ROAD TO SUCCESS, THERE ARE NO SHORTCUTS. https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/c7fpl6/on_the_road_to...
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11 Foot 8 – The Can-opener Bridge
201–210 of 216 posts
Re: 11 Foot 8 – The Can-opener Bridge
#202Durham represent!
Re: 11 Foot 8 – The Can-opener Bridge
#203The Sidney Harbor Tunnel had a similar problem. They came up with an elaborate but successful solution.[1] There are detectors and huge flashing warning signs that light up. Then, there's the last-chance sign. At the entrance to the tunnel, pumps force a curtain of water straight down across the entire roadway. Then a powerful laser system projects a giant octagonal red STOP sign onto the water curtain, filling the e…
I thought this problem is solved. 50m before the tunnel, we have a big arc with a long wooden red and white sign hanging by chains at the maximum height (like the ones in railroad crossings). if you try, you get hit hard by it. it's the most unambiguous message you can get.
Re: 11 Foot 8 – The Can-opener Bridge
#204Earlier quoted context omitted.
Look at the video. Such a structure already exists. There is a yellow beam meant to protect the bridge right in front of it. It probably does most of the can openjng to spare the bridge
The parent commenter asked for something that would "impact but not damage" vehicles, and the protective beam undoubtedly fails at that purpose.
There's an intersection right before the bridge - the beam is already at the "warning" location to protect the bridge. Bridge strikes arent' cheap and train companies HATE closing bridges for any reason (including replacing them).
Re: 11 Foot 8 – The Can-opener Bridge
#205Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is America. People have pickup trucks that have been raised to a height above 2m (about 6'6" in American)
And thus the presumably unstoppable forces meets the immovable object.
this movie meme is so tired, and doesn’t even apply. trucks are by no means unstoppable, and bridges obviously can be moved.
Re: 11 Foot 8 – The Can-opener Bridge
#206Earlier quoted context omitted.
I never understood the high-tech approach to this problem. Where i am from they have large metal tubes dangling down a ways in front of the bridge. Makes it sound like you have already hit it. Another more insistent approach I have seen elsewhere is to mount a large steel bar across the road, which takes the top of the truck off before they hit the bridge. (edit:not very simple problem, obviously..)
Friendly bit of advice, you may want to work on your hubris. In general, when a group of experts implements a complex solution there is a reason for it. Rather than reveling in your ignorance and feeling of superiority you may want to instead research those reasons. Fyi, others in this thread have listed them.
> Friendly bit of advice, you may want to work on your hubris. In general, when a group of experts implements a complex solution there is a reason for it.
As an aside, i work in the software industry, and here, that is absolutely not the case at all.
Re: 11 Foot 8 – The Can-opener Bridge
#207Earlier quoted context omitted.
They tried an electronic warning sign that lights up when a truck is too tall, but drivers still can't resist the lure of the hungry bridge: https://youtu.be/YQssl0sM9As?t=6 , https://youtu.be/cZrOcCXNq5c?t=5 , https://youtu.be/iQfSvIgIs_M?t=32 Might have been better off erecting a giant, no-tech billboard picturing a previous crash. But your projected water screen is awesome - they could buy one and play footage fro…
I think the difference is that the Sydney one is very clearing telling you, the driver, to stop right now. The 11 foot 8 bridge one just looks like a generic message to all truck drivers that they should turn if they happen to be too tall. It isn't clear that it only turns on when it detects a too tall truck. If the driver of the truck thought that the bridge was too low, they wouldn't try to go under it in the first…
The difference is the Sydney tunnel is at the end of an access road where the only way to go is the tunnel, while this bridge is around a corner and driving straight ahead with a vehicle that is too tall is allowed.
Re: 11 Foot 8 – The Can-opener Bridge
#208Earlier quoted context omitted.
Friendly bit of advice, you may want to work on your hubris. In general, when a group of experts implements a complex solution there is a reason for it. Rather than reveling in your ignorance and feeling of superiority you may want to instead research those reasons. Fyi, others in this thread have listed them.
> Friendly bit of advice, you may want to work on your hubris. In general, when a group of experts implements a complex solution there is a reason for it. As an aside, i work in the software industry, and here, that is absolutely not the case at all.
So do I and I disagree. I've often seen people make this claim only to have their "simple" rewrite crash and burn. They assumed the requirements were X and the system was overly complex for X. The requirements were in fact X+Y+Z+W and the system was complex to satisfy all those requirements.
I've found that approaching these with the question of "what drove them to implement such a system" leads to much more enlightenment than going from the point of "they're idiots for implementing it this way."
Re: 11 Foot 8 – The Can-opener Bridge
#209What's beautiful about the 11 Foot 8 bridge is that quietly it's been a constant in my life. I distinctly remember watching the videos over a decade ago on this YT Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/yovo68 There's an element of schadenfreude that's so compelling in watching ordinary situations go terribly wrong.
I was about to mention a similar feeling. This place feels sacred in an indescribable way.
Re: 11 Foot 8 – The Can-opener Bridge
#210What 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.
Part of it is the American ethos of "the rules don't apply to me". That often works. But not with bridges.