Excavator strikes bridge overpass

[DLausche]

Did anyone else see this accident the other day on 494? http://www.kare11.com/news/ts_article.aspx?storyid=123034



I drove past slowly in the opposite lanes and could not believe the damage done to the bridge. The backhoe was being towed by a dump truck. Don't know how fast he was going, but he made it almost all the way under the bridge. It stopped at the last girder when the pintle hook finally gave out. The first girder it struck is bent at a 45* angle. The 2nd and 3rd girders are bent and split vertically at the point of impact. The only girder not bent was the last one - the one seen in the picture.



This had to have made a helluva noise.



-Deon

 

[biggieou]

Ouch someones gonna have a nice bill repairing that bridge. A few years back here in Ohio we had a guy driving down the interstate in a dump truck w/the dump up. Of course the first bridge he came to he clobbered it and it flipped the truck. Unfortunately or fortunately(cause he was apparently a moron) when the truck flipped he died.

 

[jrobinson2]

Look at this one

http://www.albarelli.com/bridge/



Jared

 

[Alphacowboy]

Damn! That had to hurt when he came to a complete stop at 60+ MPH!!! But, he is an idiot, that machine was loaded BACKWARDS! You are suppose to load those excavators with the boom toward the rear and all the way down. This is the second time I have see picturs of this happening and both due to the idiot that loaded the equipment. It is to be loaded backwards in case it does for some reason come in contact with an overpass or powerline. if loaded backwards, it will glance off the over pass with minimal damage, unlike what you see above! When loaded backwards, it catches, THEN it pulles the arm up and causes all sorts of damage! I would hate to see the fine and insurance bill for that accident! I bet he doesnt drive truck for that company any more! I sure hope no one was right behind him and rear end that truck!

 

[Sled Puller]

Beware ebay item:



"Excavator, slight damage, runs good, needs paint, some straightening. "

 

[Rotty]

Unfortunatly, those type of accidents happen on a too regular basis. Many years ago and excavator hit an overpass and ripper the arm off and threw it in the oppsite land of an on comming van. Kill all personnel in the van. very ugly. I heard the accident from 2 miles away! One heck of a big boom.

 

[Sled Puller]

I use to load Grove 35 ton RT cranes all the time, move from one end of the job to another, interstates. The boss would always yell be sure to put the boom down all the way!!



Yea, yea, we is pros at this.



Sure enough, as we are pulling out, about the 100th time, I looked at the driver, "Did we put the boom down?" We went about a mile, no wires, no bridges, whew! :-laf



It was always backed on, boom out the rear. l

 

[EricBu12]

Heres another place where there is alot of construction accidents



http://community.webshots.com/album/405519685



Here is one of them on the first page



http://community.webshots.com/photo/405519685/1535031257065476939timZzj

 

[bmoeller]

Look in the upper left hand corner.



#ad

 

[DieselTweaker]

Beware ebay item:



"Excavator, slight damage, runs good, needs paint, some straightening. "

LOL





We had that happen in town a few years ago, made one heck of a noise. It was rather interesting watching them remove it as well.

 

[Cummins Pilot]

Some of those things make you say, dammit.

 

[PToombs]

Some of those things make you say, dammit.

Don't you mean "oooopps!" :-laf

 

[Cummins Pilot]

And oh its so much fun to call your boss and tell him you completely destroyed a peice of equipment. I did just that last month driving a truck and trailer up the AlCan hwy. I rolled 1. 5 times. They kept asking, "well what didn't get damaged, hows the trailer, is the truck driveable". I kept repeating, "its COMPLETELY destroyed". I told him a week before that trailer was going to try to kill me, it sure tried!

 

[jkalchik]

I saw a smaller version of that 15 years ago on US-131 northbound between Charlevoix and Petoskey, MI at the railroad bridge. A forklift with the mast up got tossed off a low-boy.



And some 25 years ago, when I was working packing cherries, a semi-load of 5&1 frozen cherries hit an overpass down around Grand Rapids. The 53' trailer needed 13' clearance and the sign said 13', 6". Except, it wasn't after some road work. The trailer got opened up something like 2/3 of the way back.

 

[rbattelle]

Beware ebay item:



"Excavator, slight damage, runs good, needs paint, some straightening. "

Oh man, that's hilarious. :-laf :-laf



What I can't understand is these excavators that bury themselves up to the cab in mud. I mean, you move to a spot, start digging, and if the machine starts to sink on the first dig, don't you move somewhere else? I mean, how deep does the machine have to sink before you think "ummm... I should move somewhere else". If it's hard to push the pedals because of all the mud, you should probably reconsider your position.



-Ryan

 

[The patriot]

Us dump trailer guys always made fun of the dumptruck drivers. (YEA there IS a difference)

I still dont drive next to dumptrucks, and when the wife does (I suspect an ex dumptruck driver in a past life) I make sure she passes tha dam thing.

Always thought of dumprtiuck drivers as the real knuckledraggers of the trucking business for good reason. :-laf

Eric

 

[Bill Lins]

"the sign said 13', 6". Except, it wasn't after some road work. "



Don'tcha HATE when that happens? ;-)

 

[Alphacowboy]

Oh man, that's hilarious. :-laf :-laf



What I can't understand is these excavators that bury themselves up to the cab in mud. I mean, you move to a spot, start digging, and if the machine starts to sink on the first dig, don't you move somewhere else? I mean, how deep does the machine have to sink before you think "ummm... I should move somewhere else". If it's hard to push the pedals because of all the mud, you should probably reconsider your position.



-Ryan

Few of those are sink holes that cause that... basicly, they drive over it, and the next thing they now they are digging out. Others are from leaving the machine over night, it rains alot over night and they come back in the morning to find the hole it was parked in filled up. Others, they are digging a hole, and the ground they are sitting on gives way and they get sucked into the hole they are digging. No fun at all. My Dad sunk a D5 dozer with a bucket on the front... amazingly we got it out with a bunch of logs an rocks. It was well buried over the tracks, but we kept feeding the logs in an open spot behind the tracks. Eventually it built up enough under the tracks to get it out. I know my dad was sweating that one out, it was his cousins dozer.

 

[Sled Puller]

Sometimes, I have seen owners/foreman, who think they know what they are doing, jump in and show the operator that the excavator can, indeed, float! :-laf

Not one word.....



Still other times, "Come on, we need such and such, just a little farther, you can pull yourself out. "



Or, the pos is too weak to pull itself out, or even swing up hill, to reach solid ground, after it has a list.



Frozen surface is another culprit.



I have got into more trouble with minis, than large machines.



The fall of 2004, I spent a lot of time in a river, working on a used concrete "causeway" with water around my feet. , with about a 320 Cat size machine. I couldn't see where the causeway was, it was nasty stinky dirty water, after a flood, but they assured me it was right along here, before the flood!!

 

[JoshPeters]

I donno how they did it, but down the street from my house there is a creek that they opened up. It was pretty shallow but flowed a decient ammount of water. THIS SPRING (I thought it was to soft) they went in there and opened it up. It's all swamp around it! How did they NOT get stuck?



Josh