For the second time in less than a year a rogue piece of earth moving equipment has slammed into a highway overpass in Niles, partially shutting down the roadway on a busy traffic corridor.
The Michigan State Police shut down northbound traffic on M-51, which is also known as S. 11th Street, at the U.S. 12 interchange, leaving one lane headed southbound.
Nobody was injured in the incident, but the bridge was visibly damaged to some degree, forcing state officials to survey the bridge for safety concerns.
Michigan Department of Transportation officials were on the scene shortly after the 10:40am incident which instantly drew a huge response on social media where people were how in the world the same situation could happen. Some of the posts were humorous, some were mocking, and some offered "solutions" of several types.
Here are some of the comments shared by observers of the situation in Facebook posts within minutes of the accident:
- "I think it is because the bottom half of the bridge is painted sky blue."
- "I bet these truck drivers would also drive into a tunnel painted on a wall (followed by a RoadRunner cartoon example).
- "You do realized the wonderful town gives them the route and says you can fit here, right? Maybe your town needs to know how to properly measure things."
- "Will the law-abiding CCWs please convene at the overpass and shoot out a couple of inches off the bottom of the overpass? This is happening too frequently, use your 2nd Amendment to help the community."
- "Maybe they should look into measuring the height of the bridge again and post the correct one. It has happened 3 times now. Hope everyone involved is ok!"
- "The bridge shown in this picture has settled so the height limit that's posted is not actually the height limit anymore."
- "I bet the excavator sustained more damage than the bridge!"
- "Really? No one can read 13 9 in bright yellow? Wow!"
- "What a moron! They have a height limit on every overpass."
- "Amazes me…it's so clearly posted."
- "Measure twice, drive once."
- "Seriously, again? Pitiful….
The same thing happened back on March 12, 2015 when an unidentified contractor hauling a piece of improperly stowed heavy machinery came to a grinding halt when the boom collided with the U.S. 12 bridge and nearly ripped the machine from its flat bed hauler.
