Subj : Howdy! To : Ky Moffet From : Barry Martin Date : Wed Apr 29 2026 08:14:00 Hi Ky! > Just looking around on the main page: thought maybe the one about > "excavator trailer bites...." was what happened locally several years > back: forgot a lot of details but essentially a tractor-trailer was > transporting a crane on I-74. The crane started bouncing, the arm > snagged the last few girders of the Lincoln Rd. Bridge over I-74 -- > oops! Good news: the bridge is four lanes and two lanes were later > determined to be useable. Medium news: the replacement I-74 Bridge was > in the final planning stages; the Lincoln Rd. Bridge is probably barely > a half-mile from the I-74 Bridge and so was going to be rebuilt to > accomodate additional lanes on I-74. Bad news; the replacing of the > Lincoln Rd. Bridge wasn't budgeted for two or three years later. KM> Surprise! Kind of!! The Lincoln Road Bridge is about 8 blocks from the house and I use it frequently. During reconstruction traffic was rerouted (duh! ) and temporary traffic lights were installed. > KM> They made it 8 inches taller a few years back, and added height > KM> sensors and blinkenlights, to no particular effect. > The "Truck Eating Bridge" in downtown Davenport (IA) also has sensors, > blinken-light, etc., which get regularly ignored. LIS some time back, > the railroad can't (won't) raise the bridge and the city would lower the > street but unable to get a long enough run so semis wouldn't disconnect. KM> Yeah, there's why these bridges stay as they are. If you lower KM> 'em, you get long trucks stuck; if you raise 'em, that's probably KM> a billion dollars in economic and construction costs -- 2% grade KM> is considered too steep for most trains, WAAAAY too steep for a KM> low-speed metro track, so it's not just the bridge that needs KM> raising, it's a mile of track in both directions, AND all the KM> crossings along that length. And now you have lowboy trucks KM> getting stuck on those newly-raised crossings where there's not KM> room for a gradual rise... generally you're better to take the KM> problem you have rather than create a bunch of new ones. I remember those reasons for "doing nothing". There was another one, which is sort of implied in the gradual track rise: other crossings would be effected: there are several track crossing where the street has a significant rise to it -- these would be made worse (higher). KM> Some places have hanging chains that make a racket if you're tall KM> enough to hit them. Idiots still ignore the warning. You can't KM> fix stupid. Yup: here signs miles out, clank tubes, maybe chains (used to have), height-triggered warning lights. ...Cue Erkle: "Did I do thaaaat?" KM> Fact is not every road is suitable for every vehicle. And there KM> will always be idiots. KM> https://tailofthedragon.com/trucks/ I could see folks renting moving trucks for the weekend (U-Haul, etc.) as they're not trained (and generally lack of experience) gettign into trouble but the professional drivers (Ego -- something close) was shown twice: slow learners are we? ¯ ® ¯ BarryMartin3@MyMetronet.NET ® ¯ ® .... Herd this cow pun? Why cows have hooves instead of feet? They lactose. --- MultiMail/Win32 v0.47 þ wcECHO 4.2 ÷ ILink: The Safe BBS þ Bettendorf, IA þ RNET 2.10U: ILink: Techware BBS þ Hollywood, Ca þ www.techware2k.com --- QScan/PCB v1.20a / 01-0462 * Origin: ILink: CFBBS | cfbbs.no-ip.com (454:1/1) .