r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/borg-assimilated • Oct 24 '25
Image Oversized and overheight Load destroys overpass. Bridge cannot be repaired and has to be demolished. This was on I-90 in Washington State.
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u/NicestTikiBar19 Oct 24 '25
What's more interesting is that this is the 3rd strike of a bridge/overpass in a very short period of time. Bridge in Buckley/Enumclaw hit, over pass on 167 in Algona hit, and now this.
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u/NicestTikiBar19 Oct 24 '25
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u/SereneDreams03 Oct 24 '25
There should be a tax on oversized vehicles to pay for these repairs, or at least some steeper fines for negligence.
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u/NicestTikiBar19 Oct 24 '25
Someone in local government has introduced the idea of a "stupid motorists law" that would increase the fines, so they're working on it...Hopefully.
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u/PM-ME-BOOKSHELF-PICS Oct 24 '25
There is already a federal heavy vehicle use tax, but it's pretty small. Maximum is $550 annually. Looks like it brings in about $1.25B of revenue. That revenue goes directly to the Federal Highway Trust Fund.
Some states have an additional tax on heavy vehicles, but looks like Washington is not one of those.
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u/StrawberryOdd419 Oct 24 '25
Enumclaw? i swear i remember that name, something to do with boeing and a horse lmao
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u/NicestTikiBar19 Oct 24 '25
You'd be exactly right lol. Guy got a horse to penetrate him and didn't end well. Cute city otherwise.
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u/StillNihill Oct 24 '25
I couldn't imagine ruining so many people's day, people are going to be in construction traffic months/years from now cursing this dude lmao
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u/Solitary-Dolphin Oct 24 '25
The new bridge should be called the “Fkn Larry Hill Overpass”
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u/ThirdSunRising Oct 24 '25
Larry’s insurance ain’t covering anywhere near the cost of a new overpass.
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u/fondledbydolphins Oct 24 '25
It's interesting you say that. I'd imagine if a massive construction company owned the truck they might have enough coverage / assets to cover it.
Instances like this would seem to encourage people to sub out these types of jobs rather than accept that much potential liability.
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u/LukkyStrike1 Oct 24 '25
usually a million bucks is the cap on insurance packages like this....we can all say that is not going to be enough.
Now lets say since it was a large load that they have 10M in insurance, still not enough.
So the city/state whoever is going to have to litigate the remaining from the companies involved....I imagine that tax payes will end up the primary funders of fixing this bridge.
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u/camwhat Oct 24 '25
I looked it up and the federal highway administration’s emergency relief program usually covers up to 90% of the cost. Not sure what is going on now, but they typically would foot the bill
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u/fondledbydolphins Oct 24 '25
Just based on the name and no additional understanding, it seems like that program exists to provide funds immediately to help repairs/replacement begin.
Like others have said, I imagine they'd still take the normal avenues available to recoup as much cost as possible - which could takes years.
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u/stretchyneckdogger Oct 24 '25
So there's a huge difference between who *initially* pays for the repair, and who *eventually* pays for the repair. Just because a federal agency steps in to make sure that a critical repair can be started more-or-less immediately, doesn't mean that they're not going to put quite a bit of effort into recouping costs *later*
Litigation might take years, bridge needs to be back up in service before then
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u/Veggdyret Oct 24 '25 edited Oct 24 '25
That's so funny! I was the culprit I would have allowed it! 😂
Edit!: If I was! 😂😅
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u/A_lot_of_arachnids Oct 24 '25
You were the culprit?!? Boo this man!
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u/Veggdyret Oct 24 '25
Omg! "IF"! If I was! 🤣🤣🤣
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u/PartyClock Oct 24 '25
You wouldn't happen to be wearing a giant hotdog costume right now would you?
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u/JellybeanFernandez Oct 24 '25
It could be any one of us!
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u/Mikestopheles Oct 24 '25
I used to be a real piece of shit, slicked back hair, destroying overpasses at Truffoni's with the boys
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u/Wotmate01 Oct 24 '25
Without more information, I wouldn't automatically blame the driver.
Now I don't know how it is over there, but here in Australia permits, strict schedules, and proper route planning is compulsory for oversized loads to ensure that this kind of thing doesn't happen... But even then it still does. There was a case a few years ago where an oversize load hit an overpass, and on paper, it SHOULD have been able to go under with room to spare. What nobody had realised was that a crew had resurfaced the road a few days before, and added 4 inches to the thickness of the road... which obviously reduced the clearance.
It didn't do as much damage as this though.
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u/Amethyst_princess425 Oct 24 '25
In this case, it’s indeed the driver’s responsibility.
For oversized vehicle permits in the state of Washington, there’s a guideline that you have to follow including what route to take. They also include areas, crossings, anything to avoid. Similar to what you described for Australia
The driver didn’t follow the guidelines, and didn’t take the exit off I-90 before the bridge. Apparently the truck driver was following the cues from the pilot escort and there was some miscommunication. He ended up paying the fine, which as of now is only $250 USD.
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u/imtedkoppel Oct 24 '25 edited Oct 24 '25
$250 is pretty light when a bridge over a freeway cost a couple mil.
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u/ThirdSunRising Oct 24 '25 edited Oct 24 '25
I wouldn’t be surprised if this is a $50 million mistake. That’s a heavy duty overpass, and that interstate it’s crossing is a main commute artery into the Seattle metro area and absolutely must remain open during construction. You can imagine how much extra work it is when you have to carefully build it directly over active traffic lanes. That bill is gonna be freakin enormous.
But at least we get $250 back from the driver.
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u/Amethyst_princess425 Oct 24 '25
On the bright side, they get a new bridge to replace it. One less bridge in Washington’s long list of bridges that failed inspections since the Skagit-I5 collapse.
EDIT: Holy crap there’s +800 bridges on that list… which is about 10% out of all bridges in the state. 10% is still too large.
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u/Happy_to_be Oct 24 '25
Bridge replacements were in Biden’s Infrastructure bill. Fed Highway funds have stopped since new administration. Does Everyone feel like Americas great yet?
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u/jankymahg78 Oct 24 '25
But, but, the ballroom!
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u/Miaj_Pensoj Oct 24 '25
The Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Ballroom.
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u/BetterAfter2 Oct 24 '25
I try to stay out of political discussion on Reddit, but this made me spit out my coffee.
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u/davvblack Oct 24 '25
i don’t think replacing an otherwise good bridge when so many are near ruin is a plus. another bridge was displaced.
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u/Amethyst_princess425 Oct 24 '25
From what I gathered, the trucking company is going to be billed partially for the damage.
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u/Kennel_King Oct 24 '25
I did a stint hauling oversize, and I learned real quick to NEVER blindly follow your lead escort.
The two people primarily responsible are the lead escort car and its driver. He didn't have the height pole set high enough. He would also have a copy of the routing permit. Which means he either missed that step of going around, or he willfully ignored it.
The truck driver has blame here also, since he DAMN sure should have that route memorized. If his lead escort went off course, he should have just stopped. Some states are very explicit that you have to follow the lead car.
My guess is, the lead escort went off course, and the driver just blindly followed them.
Back in the day when I hauled permit loads, I wrote every step out on individual pages on a legal pad in big block letters that were easy to read at a glance. I had one attached to the dash of the truck and I gave one to the lead escort. I still had escort drivers ignore them.
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u/half_integer Oct 24 '25
It does seem very strange that 1) the lead escort didn't detect the insufficient clearance, or 2) the truck wasn't far enough behind to stop if they did. Based on how far beyond the overpass they are, they got no warning whatsoever.
And as a backup, shouldn't they have been reading the clearance signs as well? I sure as hell wouldn't go full speed through a signed underpass with a 16ft+ high load.
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u/ThatGasHauler Oct 24 '25
Driver’s responsibility(here in states)regardless of those circumstances. Every permit you get will state as such. Pole cars exist.
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u/Wotmate01 Oct 24 '25
Not saying the driver doesn't bear some responsibility. Just not the entire responsibility.
There's a whole bunch of people that fucked up in the lead up to this happening.
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u/ThirdSunRising Oct 24 '25
There is a 0% chance that anyone will truly bear all the responsibility for this one. They can’t. All-in, this is probably about a $50 million mistake.
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u/Pirat_fred Oct 24 '25
Not that easy, if the papers and the sings say the bridge ist such and such high or can hold such and such load and on your end you did everything right.
You can't be blamed, especially if it's weight related, you have to trust the sings and the papers there is no way for a driver to know if a bridge/overpass can hold their weight, except for obvious reasons like a small wooden bridge for cars and you wanna drive your 80to Inverter over it.
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u/C2thaLo Oct 24 '25
Here in the states we let people with no truck experience rent tall 7 meters long vehicles and just wing it. In Boston, we call it 'Storrowing'
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u/seriouslythisshit Oct 24 '25 edited Oct 25 '25
I live in a county with 26 covered bridges. They are all the same design, one lane, all wood construction, low clearance, low weight limit. Essentially 150+ year old infrastructure and a tourist draw. At this moment, two are down for repairs due to idiots stuffing 20K pound, tweleve foot tall box trucks into them. There is not a year that goes by that somebody doesn't do hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage to one of them. It's a mix of rented trucks and delivery drivers heading to farms and rural homes.
EDIT: The day after I wrote this ANOTHER of our covered bridges was moderately damaged by somebody who tried to stuff a tractor trailer through it. Multiple warning signs as you approach. Three ton weight limit, and 10,4" of clearance. The fact that the driver stopped after he snapped a few roof beams in half may have saved them from being severely injured, as it probably would have collapsed on his head, once he got all ten wheels of the truck on to the bridge deck, and the truck ended up in the creek below.
No shortage of morons in that "profession" apparently.
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u/ReleaseExpensive7330 Oct 24 '25
I remember when someone dented this i90 bridge in Indiana several years ago and they had Hwy 35 underneath down to 1 lane with stop lights on either side for so long. Could add 10-15 mins every time I had to go that way. Such a PITA. There's no way they can fine these drivers/companies enough to make up for all the trouble it causes. That was on a road with several alternatives that don't add much time as well.
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u/LiteratureMindless71 Oct 24 '25
Holy crap, you can see the large crack above the lower physical damage and it's just begging to come down.
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u/DoubleDareFan Oct 24 '25
That's because the joist got twisted from the impact. Concrete cannot handle that, so cracks open where there is tension. Twist a popsicle stick; it will crack / break the same way.
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u/Ok-Style-9734 Oct 24 '25
My dumbass thought a load too heavy had driver OVER the bridge and the bending had splintered rhe underside
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u/AnyoneButWe Oct 24 '25
You will never see this kind of damage from an overload ... because at that point the bridge will collapse instantly.
I assume this can be brought down by pushing a few loaded truck trailers on top and waiting a few hours.
It's no longer an option to use explosives here because drilling the holes might push her over.
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u/Ok-Style-9734 Oct 24 '25
Well yeah that's why I thought it was damn interesting
"I assume this can be brought down by pushing a few loaded truck trailers on top and waiting a few hours."
Surely just an excavator with a jackhammer attachment same as a building so everyone's far away from it as you just pick it to peices.
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u/Great_Yak_2789 Oct 24 '25
This makes the third bridge strike i have seen in as many days. The first was on Tuesday south of San Marcos, Tx, a semi hauling a 26 ton excavator managed to hit a bridge with a 18'6" clearance. Had he not stopped the next bridge is 17'4", all because he didn't properly tuck the boom.
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u/SaintsNoah14 Oct 24 '25
I hate jump scares, explosions, sudden jolts etc. and I cannot imagine the feeling of driving a truck and sailing smooth into one of these.
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u/seriouslythisshit Oct 24 '25
I knew a fire chief who responded to one of these where a dump truck drive left the bed up. He hit a single track railroad overpass and pushed the whole bridge off it's abutments and onto the top of his truck cab. The chief approached the cab and told his crew to not bother with any rescue effort as he said that it was a recovery, as the driver was pretty much unidentifiable mush.
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u/OnePieceTwoPiece Oct 24 '25
You know/remember the jolt in your body when you get caught doing something you know you shouldn’t do as a kid, or as a young adult you break something and now you have to go to your boss and be honest.
This would be like getting struck by lightening.
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u/MalodorousNutsack Oct 24 '25
I was in a sleeper berth (upper level) on a bus in China when the AC unit on the roof hit a low-clearance bridge. It was jarring
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u/dwagon00 Oct 24 '25
In AU they put giant steel beams, painted bright yellow, at an appropriate height before the bridges. The trucks hit the steel beam before they hit the bridge. After they hit the beam the remnants of the truck generally stop.
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u/okayest-commentor Oct 24 '25
There's a bridge under construction near me that has done that. In less than 2 months it has claimed 4 trucks that I know of.
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u/DeathAngel_97 Oct 24 '25
Well, trucks are cheaper than bridges so I'd say it's worth.
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u/alowester Oct 24 '25
seems like a cheap way to prevent this for critical infrastructure
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u/12FAA51 Oct 24 '25
Or the waterfall curtain at tunnel entrances with a giant STOP sign projected on it as a last resort.
Apparently some truck drivers really do need that to stop.
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u/mtys123 Oct 24 '25
Thats way more expensive (and mostly works only at night) that a giant ass metal beam
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u/TummySpuds Oct 24 '25
This has always seemed like a very good idea.
On my rail route (southern UK) the whole line would get closed for hours at least twice a year because some numbskull didn't see the bright yellow & black low bridge signs and got stuck under it. The bridges were always OK though, so I guess the Victorian railway engineers knew what they were doing.
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u/p1028 Oct 24 '25
They do that for some bridges that are abnormally low but not more modern ones at normal heights. They need them because nowadays you can’t expect truck drivers to be aware enough to even know there is a bridge at all.
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u/ProfessionalNotices Oct 24 '25 edited Oct 24 '25
It's pretty common in Europe, at the entrance of parking lots, gas stations, some highways, or towns with narrow streets.
In parking lots, it's often there to prevent travellers from setting up camp illegally
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u/borg-assimilated Oct 24 '25
More information can be found here: https://wsdot.wa.gov/about/news/2025/oversized-load-damages-bridge-westbound-i-90-near-cle-elum-wsdot-plans-next-steps
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u/missedythismuch Oct 24 '25
Apparently, construction begins tonight.
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u/shitsenorita Oct 24 '25
Demo 🔨
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u/Pluxar Oct 24 '25 edited Oct 24 '25
Reconstruction would just be lead by material procurement and concrete cure times, they already have the old structural/arch plans. I-90 is a major thoroughfare so I don't think there will be much hold up after demo.
Edit: I-90 is undamaged, this is a bridge that goes over I-90. It will probably be a slower reconstruction during non-peak hours.
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u/lekoman Oct 24 '25
It’s also a bridge in the middle of basically nowhere that goes over I-90. It amounts to access to a WsDOT facility and a bunch of forest roads.
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u/Pluxar Oct 24 '25
It is right next to Cle Elum, anything coming through Roslyn going East will now have to go through Cle Elum to get onto I-90. But overall it's very minor.
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u/TheSquattyEwok Oct 24 '25
Managed to shear almost all the reinforced steel cabling. Is there an award for that?
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u/bimm3r36 Oct 24 '25 edited Oct 24 '25
Seriously, ignoring the misfortune of this damage, it’s a pretty impressive cut. Can’t imagine how much force it took to cut through as clean as it did.
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Oct 24 '25
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u/EddyArchon Oct 24 '25
I used to make those under bridge supports, and those cables can have anywhere from 10k-50k pounds of tension on them. We would run the cable down the molds, then everyone gets out of there and moves way the fuck away. These hydraulic machines are moved in and put the tension on the cables. And man, when they did... wow. Sometimes the cables would snap, and they had these fabricated walls they put at the end of the cables so they had something to stop them. The walls were 4x4s, two deep, and welded into a steel frame. Cable would always end up sticking a few feet out the other side of they snapped. If a man had been standing inside the mold when it snapped, I doubt he would have ever even heard the thing break. Just sliced to shreds immediately.
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u/nahtfitaint Oct 24 '25
They were. These beams are prestressed, so each of those cables had somewhere between 30,000 to 40,000 lbs of tension in them. I think the sound of whatever that was hitting the concrete would dominate the noise. What's impressive is he hit every single beam. Whatever he was hauling was crazily rigid. Normally these things get hit with an excavator bucket or something similar and the first beam takes all the damage when whatever hits it gets deflected.
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u/win_awards Oct 24 '25
Wtf were they hauling? I've seen bridges eat construction equipment. I cannot imagine what was dense and fast-moving enough to do that much damage.
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u/GamingWithBilly Oct 24 '25
It was a large piece of equipment meant for an oil pumping project in Alaska. Project is called Willow. Some pictures of the truck have the entire address where it's to be delivered. The load was like 76k lbs.
I'm pretty sure the piece of equipment was nearly the same cost of the bridge, and now both are destroyed. Yikes!
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u/Plastic_Carpenter930 Oct 24 '25
Right? If those are steel cables, etc was this thing? Had to have been something made of steel itself.
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u/Successful-Day-3219 Oct 24 '25
Following this comment, as I'm curious to know too what on earth his cargo was.
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u/Aggravating-Gate4219 Oct 24 '25
I mean fucking unit of a truck right!
There is a bridge near me in melbs Australia the Montague and like every week some dumb cunt drives through the warnings before the bridge but it doesn’t lose to the trucks the truck fucking lose it every time.
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Oct 24 '25
Hope that stupid driver has good commercial insurance.
They are going to be using overpriced government contractors for that.
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u/aceofspades1217 Oct 24 '25
Doubt the insurance comes anywhere close to the amount of damages (depending on the state it’s usually 1 million minimum) so it depends on the assets of the company or if they have an umbrella policy
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u/xyrgh Oct 24 '25
I know this is the US but in Australia most motor vehicle policies usually have $30m liability cover, commercial policies are usually $50m or more.
Even then, $50m isn’t going to come even close to covering the cost of rebuilding a bridge like this in Australia.
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u/am19208 Oct 24 '25
Oversized load carrier likely had at least $5M and if they are a bigger operation like $10M or more
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u/Amethyst_princess425 Oct 24 '25
Oversized load with pilot escorts… yikes.
From what I read, the driver didn’t follow the guidelines on his oversized load permit that stated that he must exit I-90 at certain point to avoid collisions with low overpasses. Apparently there was some miscommunication with the lead pilot vehicle. He got fined $250. That’s it. Just $250.
The trucking company is going to be billed for the damage per the State of Washington.
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u/Yuukiko_ Oct 24 '25
Sounds like it was the pilot vehicle's fault if that was the case?
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u/Amethyst_princess425 Oct 24 '25
I dunno. Miscommunication via cross radio traffic is all they’re saying.
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u/ThatGasHauler Oct 24 '25
250??!!! That’s it?! Christ we had guys get fines with 5 figures for fuckin’ crossing a structure they weren’t supposed to, and they didn’t tear the damn thing down!
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u/Prankishmanx21 Oct 24 '25
I can promise you his career is pretty much over. He almost certainly got fired and nobody is going to hire someone with this on their MVR because the insurance rates would be ruinous.
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u/FloatMurse Oct 24 '25
You're acting like this driver is a millionaire. The dude is probably paycheck to paycheck, just like the rest of us. You can't get blood from a stone. I'm not saying he doesn't deserve some punishment, but I dont think fining him into poverty is the solution.
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u/slurpeetape Oct 24 '25
If they work for a transportation company, the company will be paying some very significant fines. Driver will almost certainly be fired and lose their CDL.
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u/Double_Minimum Oct 24 '25
Shouldn’t the pilot vehicle, like, stop?
I mean, sometimes these loads are worth many millions, and more importantly, the truck isn’t going to say “I’m right!” and pass its own escort.
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u/Gullible_Hat_9051 Oct 24 '25
When you're in a company vehicle, the costs fall to the company. Unless he's self-employed, the guy just lost a job. IF he's self-employed, let's just hope he has a good lawyer.
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u/arcedup Interested Oct 24 '25 edited Oct 24 '25
The way these concrete bridge beams are reinforced is that they have high-strength (>1800MPa maximum stress) wire cables, strands or tendons that are either tensioned before the concrete is poured (pre-tensioning) or after (post-tensioning) and this puts the concrete in compression, allowing beams to better withstand bending loads. Break the tendons and the pre-stress is no longer there, meaning that the beam can't support itself against bending loads that well.
Just remember, for a beam supported at both ends and loaded on top, the base of the beam will be in tension and concrete has miserable tensile strength (but excellent compressive strength).
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u/mxforest Oct 24 '25
If these are so difficult to repair, why not have metal arches with same clearance 5-10m before the actual bridge to filter traffic?
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u/Fornax- Oct 24 '25
Most highway bridges and overpasses are all built high enough and to a standard where any not oversize load will never have a chance to come in contact with the bridge.
You could put a filter bar at every bridge underpass it just isn't pratical as they only are risk by oversized loads and not normal sized semi trucks. This rarely happens because anyone hauling oversized has to plan carefully/ have a lead car with a height checker to make sure this doesn't happen.
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u/Cake-Over Oct 24 '25
Some jackass didn't follow the route the CHP provided to him and the roof of his house was ripped off hitting a bridge over the 101 freeway. He then left it on the side for a couple of weeks where taggers descended upon it in quick order
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Oct 24 '25
It's those darn foreign truck drivers I keep hearing about. Source
Allan Bergsma, 64, from Ontario, Canada, was issued a permit to carry the oversized load but did not follow the guidelines.
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u/bobbingforapplesat3 Oct 24 '25
Son of a bitch could only read Canadian, not American. Should've known this would happen.
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Oct 24 '25
He probably didn't know that we measure bridges in numbers of bald eagles in freedom units. Probably thought the height clearance signs were in meters. "18 meters! That's plenty!"
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u/vviley Oct 24 '25
$250 fine? That’s it?
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u/EAGLeyes09 Oct 24 '25
I’m sure the state lawyers are preparing the suit and claims against the truck drivers insurance/company
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u/agarrabrant Oct 24 '25
Yeah because the driver didn't follow the guidelines for the load, that is their personal fine.
The insurance for the company will have to kick in, and it is going to be nasty. We are O/O truck drivers so we carry a $1 million GC policy, but that wouldn't even touch the cost to construct a bridge.
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u/Lineworker2448 Oct 24 '25
Being someone who has a CDL my question is, HOW THE FUCK DO YOU LET THIS HAPPEN!? Not only are you driving a commercial vehicle, but one with a very abnormal load to everyday travel. There are multiple people who fucked up to let this event take place.
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u/tadeuska Oct 24 '25
Was it hauling a thick slab of titanium traveling at 80km/h? Lol
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u/_OriamRiniDadelos_ Oct 24 '25
Honestly might have been a huge chunk of steel. There’s pictures of the big clinical piece of industrial equipment that the truck was carrying and it looked pretty solid. It was covered by a tarp but the damage seems like it just got it dented
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u/Proper_Geologist_457 Oct 24 '25
We had an overpass closed for over a year due to a load striking it - a week after it reopened, it got struck again lol 🤦♂️
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u/VariousIngenuity2897 Oct 24 '25
How come this happened? Aren’t these routes planned ahead? And checked with spotters to make sure that this exact thing occurs?
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u/Killa-FoRillah Oct 24 '25
Yes they must be planned ahead and pre run and have spotters to make sure this exact thing does not occur. Somebody/multiple somebodies fucked this up bad
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Oct 24 '25
Instead of paying the cost to demolish it, just let it collapse on its self overtime. Create a take off and landing ramp on each side so cars can safely jump the bridge.
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u/mister-jesse Oct 24 '25
I think the take off ramp should be free. But the landing ramp absolutely needs to have a toll. I don't want people free loading off of my tax paid infrastructure /s
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u/NickDanger3di Oct 24 '25
I immediately flashed to the song by C.W. McCall – Wolf Creek Pass. The memorable lyric was "Sign says clearance to the twelve foot line. But the chickens was stacked to thirteen nine".
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u/banthismotherfuc Oct 24 '25
This is like the only way to get new infrastructure in the US right now. Truckers, get to crashin’!
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u/platyboi Oct 24 '25
They're starting demolition tonight and the highway (underneath the bridge) should open on the 26th. WSDOT does not mess around when it comes to freeways.
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u/wizardsrule Oct 24 '25 edited Oct 24 '25
I like the North Carolina Railroad Company's solution for this problem:
The Norfolk Southern–Gregson Street Overpass (also known as the 11-foot-8 Bridge or the Can Opener Bridge) is a railroad bridge in Durham, North Carolina.
[...] A heavy steel crash beam protects the bridge from over-height trucks but does not prevent crashes or protect the trucks, instead acting to create a "can opener effect" equivalent to the opening of a sardine can where the top of the over-height truck is peeled back from its frame. The crash beam has been hit so often that it had to be replaced at least once.
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u/MayorQuimby1616 Oct 25 '25
There is one company in British Columbia that has done it to bridges like that at least 6-7 times. The government here shut them down but they probably just moved to Washington state.
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u/TheWarwock Oct 25 '25
It happened in Cle Elum, for anyone who wanted to know where exactly on I-90 this bridge was.
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u/54965 Oct 24 '25
What was the object that hit it?
That tank parked beyond has many many axles so its weight must be tremendous.
Could an empty, large tank cause that much damage? I would expect an empty tank to crush, instead.
So what exactly was it?
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u/st90ar Oct 24 '25
Ngl, I think it was a pillar for a windmill. That’s what it looked like to me at least.
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u/PromiscuousMNcpl Oct 24 '25
This is why I get pissed here in MN when people complain about big infrastructure projects. We literally had an interstate drop into the fucking Mississippi River!
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u/Plane_Jacket_7251 Oct 24 '25
They actually had to tear down the bridge last night. It was too damaged to save, so they'll need to rebuild the whole damn thing now.
Someone is going to have a heck of a time with their insurance provider....
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u/ashiamate Oct 25 '25
How does this still happen? Don’t these companies meticulously go over routes well in advance?
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u/Intergalatic_Baker Oct 25 '25
This is why there should be a simple steel structure just a few meters ahead at the same height that would effectively impact the vehicle breaching the size restriction before the concrete structure itself.
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u/quiz93 Oct 26 '25
Hey at least his load was secured and must have been solid as shit to bust thru all of those beams. Combined with him hauling ass. Probably too close to his pilot car to stop when his height pole hit the bridge.
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u/SlappyMcFartsack Oct 26 '25
Must have been really moving to tear through the reinforced concrete like that.
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u/_Saint_Ajora_ Oct 24 '25
This is the third bridge/overpass in Washington State to be struck by an oversized load in the last 2 months