The truck likely weighed in excess of 20 tons and recovering it took workers more than three full hours
September 25, 2023 at 19:34
In the battle between wooden bridges and loaded concrete trucks, we have another decisive victory. Now, the residents of Montgomery County, Texas need a new wooden bridge. A newly released video of the incredible recovery efforts shows the carnage caused.
On September 15, a concrete truck driver piloted his rig over a bridge and ended up falling into the water below. Thankfully, he escaped serious injury.
While there’s no clarification on exactly how heavy the truck was, estimates range from 20-40 tons. The now-destroyed wooden bridge has a sign just ahead of it warning drivers that it has a weight limit of just 4 tons.
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To be clear, that means that even the GMC Hummer EV wouldn’t be safe to drive over it. Despite the obvious mistake, local news organization The Courier says that police aren’t charging the driver as the bridge is privately owned. The incident still comes with great financial costs to the concrete company though.
Video of the recovery process shows just how tedious and potentially dangerous the situation was. Crews positioned a crane on one side of the bridge and then attached chains around the barrel section of the truck.
Despite pulling the truck halfway out of the wreckage, it became clear that the situation wasn’t safe so crews let the truck back down. Once it was safe to move back in, they positioned the hooks of the chains on the far end of the barrel which provided the leverage needed to get it out safely.
In addition, a second crane hoisted the front of the truck out of the air along with the progress made by the first crane. Together, the two managed to get the truck out of the hole and lay on its side. It took the team almost another hour just to reposition the cranes in a way that allowed them to pull it further from the bridge.
At that point, they were able to lift it, rotate it back onto its wheels, and tow it away. That’s a lot of work for one simple mistake and a good reminder to be considerate of one’s path.