BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — For the second time in 10 days, a truck has crashed into the Colvin Avenue Railroad Bridge in Buffalo.
The latest was Monday when a truck attempted to get under the bridge and ended up with its top scraped off.
No injuries were reported in either incident, but both caused a major mess.
"I heard the one today and the one last week," said neighbor Mark Swaggard."It literally woke us out of our bed because it shook everything. Our dog was barking downstairs. It was wild."
Other neighbors like Mike Lillis said it happens all the time.
"Just the height of the bridge," said Lillis. "I mean, there's a couple of different railroad bridges in the area."
It's one of several bridges around Western New York that are too low for some high-profile vehicles.
New York State Police Trooper Jim O'Callaghan said another frequent target is the southbound Grand Island Bridge in Niagara Falls.
"You have multiple different vehicles, tractor trailers, that will strike the center bridge because this is the lowest portion right here, and that is where a lot of our tractor trailers will hit and rip the top of the roof of the truck clean off," said O'Callaghan. "It's a huge problem."
He said there's plenty of signage and flashing lights to warn drivers of tall vehicles. However, nearly every day, a truck will make a turn onto the Niagara Scenic Parkway and need to be helped out.
"It's an hour-long process with multiple troopers closing multiple roadways if no vehicle strikes the bridge, which is an issue," said O'Callaghan. "But when they strike the bridge, we have to close this whole thing down, get a heavy hauler. We have to get another tractor-trailer because typically they're loaded, right? They're in commerce going somewhere to drop something off, so they're fully loaded, so we have to unload one truck, load into the other truck."
A year from now, new vehicle and traffic laws go into effect that will cost drivers eight points on their license for hitting an overpass. Right now, there's no separate ticket for such a violation.
"Anytime you're driving any type of heavy equipment you've got to be careful and it's a huge and major responsibility," said Erie County Clerk Mickey Kearns. "And if you're driving an 18-wheeler and you're going at high rates of speed and you do strike an overpass, then there could be some serious situations."
