Work crews have removed the barriers, and traffic is now flowing freely under the railway bridge spanning Olive Road after the bridge was hit yet again on Feb. 7, knocking the tracks out of alignment.
According to Engineering Department Director Hameed Malik, authorities have pretty much lost count of the number of times the steel beams have been struck by trucks at the near century-old bridge.
There has been one known fatality to occur at the site. It happened in 2006, when a woman driving a U-Haul van hit the bridge causing a steel beam to collapse on the car traveling in the opposite direction, killing 24 year-old Isaiah Dominique Lewis.
There are no less than 10 warning signs, including a flashing red stop sign, as well as speed bumps, but people still keep hitting the bridge.
“I don’t understand it. The signs, the speed bumps; you almost have to be blind not to notice that the bridge is low and a big truck simply will not fit under it,” Malik said.
According to Malik, most of the culprits are people using rental vans, not professional drivers; although there have been instances where drivers who should have known better than to try and fit a semi under the bridge hit it anyway.
Malik says that he is constantly asked why the city and CSX Railroad does not either lower the road or raise the bridge.
Both of those scenarios are basically impossible feats.
The underpass abuts the back end of Pendleton King Park, which is all swampy wetlands. A flowing creek actually runs under Olive Road in front of the underpass.
The area already floods in heavy rain, so if the road was dug deeper, the city would have to install a ground-based pumping station that operates continuously. However, unlike a bilge pump on a ship, ground pumps clog easily and have to be constantly maintained.
“You have a liability issue there. Someone would have to be watching the pumps always because if they fail and someone’s car washes away, the city would be liable,” Malik said.
Meanwhile, raising the bridge comes with an economic liability, according to Malik.
Railroads are designed to have only about a one percent grade, meaning that many miles of track would have to be ripped up and replaced at an enormous cost. Malik says that that particular track is a major artery in the network, and closing it down for weeks would cause a disruption of the supply lines.
People have also suggested suspending a metal bar just in front of the bridge so that it will hit the vehicle and alert the driver that their vehicle is too tall, but that also comes with liability for the city, according to Malik.
“People sue us all the time for the silliest of things and our legal counsel says that putting a bar up would just invite more lawsuits,” Malik said.
The repaired bridge now has reinforced concrete surrounding the steel beams, making it even more impervious to damage for when the next U-Haul driver doesn’t pay attention to the warning signs.
Scott Hudson is the Senior Investigative Reporter and Editorial Page Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
