Semitrailer driver strikes, leaves, railroad bridge
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By Thomas Geyer | Thursday, February 01, 2007 |
It was a first for the Davenport police officers that handled the call.
The driver of a semitrailer heading north on Brady Street slammed into the Iowa Interstate Railroad bridge at 5th Street, and then kept on going, with the rear quarter of the trailer scraping along the roadway, and finally coming to a stop about a mile up the hill just south of Kirkwood Boulevard.
“This is the first time I’ve ever seen someone hit the bridge and keep going,” said Davenport police Cpl. Robert Hegland, as he trained his squad car’s video camera on the refrigerated trailer that was peeled open from front to back like a sardine can. “Usually they get wedged under the bridge and can’t go any further.”
Sgt. Dennis Colclasure looked at the trailer and shook his head and said, “It’s amazing his truck was able to make it this far north.”
The accident occurred at 7:35 p.m.
Matt Ritter, the manager at ZLB Plasma Services, 520 N. Brady St., said he heard the boom in his office.
“We hear the booms whenever a truck hits the bridge,” he said, adding that he came out to see the semitrailer heading up Brady Street hill.
Ritter and several other people directed traffic away from the debris. Three lanes of Brady Street were closed at the bridge while workers from Fred’s Towing cleared away the mess.
Chunks of insulation and slices of aluminum from the trailer littered roadway under the bridge. More debris from the empty trailer was strewn up to 6th Street. Twisted aluminum also hung down from the bridge rafters where it got caught.
On one piece of aluminum was embossed with “Thermo King,” indicating the maker of the trailer.
The driver of the semi, Russell Berg, 50, of Starkweather, N.D., said he realized he had hit the bridge, and was looking for a place to pull over. He finally stopped about a mile up the street.
“I’ve never been through here before,” Berg said. “I didn’t realize how low the bridge was.”
Drivers passing the stopped semi slowed and gawked at the damage, with some remarking how amazed they were that Berg was able to drive his rig so far from the bridge.
While the tractor, owned by J & J McGarvey of Leeds, N.D., was in good shape, the top of the trailer was pealed back. A quarter of the rear of the trailer was dragging the ground.
No one was injured.
Berg’s is the first truck to be eaten by the infamous “truck-eating” bridge this year. Most often hit is the railroad bridge where it crosses Harrison Street.
While the bridge is always inspected for damage after such a wreck, Sgt. Michael Colclasure, a 22-year veteran of the police department, said that in all his time on the job, “I’ve never seen the bridge lose.”
Thomas Geyer can be contacted at (563) 383-2328 or tgeyer@qctimes.com.
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