Bridge over I-16 to be demolished after truck crash shifts it 6 feet (Central GA)

WSAV.com ^ | July 15, 2021 | Steven Poeling, Molly Curley

[Bogey78O]

Driver quality is dropping yearly.

[oldvirginian]

Yeah, he may be awake but probably wishing he had never been born.

[null and void]

Agreed, but to really make the Redneck Engineering grade, there needs to at least be some duct tape or bailing wire...

[Irish Eyes]

Now this is what the “infrastructure “ bill is supposed to be used for. None of this “personal” infrastructure that they are trying to push.

[oldvirginian]

“How many points on the license?”

ALL of them! #:P)

Seriously though, depends on what the driver is charged with, his driving record, whether he passes the inevitable drug test, how the judge feels about the situation and finally how good his lawyer is.
It could be anything from a very expensive slap on the wrist to “boy, life as you knew it is over.”
With an entire bridge needing replacement I’m thinking his life as he knew it is over.

[VTenigma]

It’ll buff out.

[VTenigma]

How many points on the license?

---

All of them.

[oldvirginian]

Driver quality has been dropping for over a decade. I can remember tooling down the interstate and seeing 4 or 5 trucks rolled over on ramps, all from the same company.
Imagine the roads if Schneider Transportation had imported about 10,000 drivers from India like they wanted to a decade ago.

Most long haul drivers are making the same thing they were 20-30 years ago. Pay hasn’t kept up with inflation even a little. Add in the time away from home, lack of truck parking, the newer rules and regulations and good drivers want nothing to do with the business.
I can’t blame them.

[FreedomPoster]

Might take two come-alongs . . .

[Alberta's Child]

The photos explain all I need to know about the design of the overpass.

Most laypeople may not know this, but an overpass like that is only "attached" to the bridge abutments at one point. In this case, the overpass is a two-span crossing with a center pier and two abutments. It looks like the steel beams (called "stringers") are bolted to the center pier, while each end of the bridge sits on bearing plates that allow the bridge deck to slide slightly as it expands and contracts when the temperature changes. The point where the bridge deck meets the road on top of the concrete abutment -- seen clearly in the foreground of the photo in Post #7 -- is the expansion joint where a gap up to a few inches in size would open when the bridge deck contracts in colder weather (see image below for example).

The only thing holding the ends of the bridge deck in place on these bearing plates is the massive weight of the structure. That's why the bridge deck moved laterally out of place without ripping the concrete roadway apart.

The bolted connections where the bridge deck connects to the center pier were strong enough to withstand the force of the collision, but I suspect these bolts and their associated hardware were compromised by the collision and can no longer be considered a safe structural component.

Alberta's Child, P.E.

[Alberta's Child]

P.S. -- This is an image of what a bearing plate (the part where the bridge deck slides slightly on the abutment as the deck expands and contract) ...

If you look at the photo in Post #7, the bridge deck has dropped below the level of the adjacent roadway because the deck was pushed far enough out of place laterally to drop the stringers (the large green beams) off the bearing plates at that end.

[ridesthemiles]

40% +++ pf current CDL drivers are idle because they cannot pass the drug tests.

[Bogey78O]

Yup. My grandparents used to run a company in the 80s and 90s. Used to see men who knew their trucks, the roads,and conditions so well they could drive blindfolded. Now a quarter of the drivers I see I wouldn’t trust with an airport shuttle.

[21twelve]

I wonder if Matt’s 4x4 Towing and Recovery will travel all the way from Utah with a 60-foot yankum rope?

[Bogey78O]

Drivers are ultimately responsible for the condition of their truck so, yeah... screwed.

What can he say? Medical emergency? Forced to drive at gunpoint?

[minnesota_bound]

The solution is to ram a truck into it from the opposite side!

[oldvirginian]

“40% +++ pf current CDL drivers are idle because they cannot pass the drug tests.”

That doesn’t surprise me at all.
I was at the company terminal one day and the owner came out to the drivers lounge looking less than amused. When asked what was wrong he said the current orientation class had been cut way down. Out of 20 drivers 6 couldn’t pass the drug test and two more failed the physical miserably. What made it so bad was every one of them knew before they left home they would have a drug screen during orientation.

Maybe a year later a new hire picked up a load in New Jersey headed to California. The only stops he made were for fuel. Straight through to San Francisco! When he contacted dispatch for his next load they told him to hold on. They had a driver with a student go by to get the truck. Told the offender “you’re fired”, threw his stuff out of the truck and drove it away.
The driver that picked the truck up said the guy they fired was flying so high he might never come down.

Drug use is killing the industry.

[Dundee]

Agree on it being boned. Taking a hit like that would do a real number on structural integrity.

I’d demolish it and when rebuilding raise the clearance height by another couple of feet since the current bridge seems a bit lower than what I would expect.

[Alberta's Child]

That overpass doesn’t even have its vertical clearance posted, which means it probably meets the Interstate Highway System standard minimum clearance of 16’-0” with room to spare.

[oldvirginian]

There was a completely different work ethic back then. Your employer gave you a job, you agreed to work for the pay he offered you. Part of the job description was taking care of the bosses property, the truck, his customers, the shippers and receivers, and do it all safely.

That ethic no longer exists.
Makes me want to cry sometimes.