Tractors behaving badly

[RobS]

You guys ever been to the covered bridge north of Centerville?
Worth a day trip.
Langley Covered Bridge - Wikipedia

Been there by bike as well!

 

[RobS]

Bridgehunter.com | O'Neal Bridge

Some specs on the bridge. Looks like the deck was only 16 ft wide. Looking at the news articles and the pictures in the above link one approach to the bridge is a curve. So it might be that he took it too close or too wide and hit the abutment. Vertical clearance is reported to be 16ft as well so height likely not an issue.

It was built in 1892. So in today's world it would be a one lane bridge. Two cars could likely pass on it, but not Semi's.....

Cool site, thanks!

 

[RobS]

You guys ever been to the covered bridge north of Centerville?
Worth a day trip.
Langley Covered Bridge - Wikipedia

Evidence:

 

[Creamer]

Evidence:

View attachment 530809

Nice pic! Which one is you? Although you could tell me anyone and I wouldn't know the difference.

 

[MossRoad]

Evidence:

View attachment 530809

THAT, my friend, does not surprise me at all! :laughing:

 

[mapper]

Interesting indeed, but some things dont jive.

I watched the news video that mossroad posted.

1. Mentioned that driver said he was almost across when he seen a top piece starting to come down.
Sure didnt look like he was almost all the way across?

2. Bridge only rated for 20t.....Yet not marked as such? Legal weight to be on the road without an overweight permit is 40t. I thought all bridges not rated for at least that had to be marked?

3. No mention in any of the articles or on the report about it being a narrow bridge or low clearance. Again, usually anything under 13'6" is clearly marked. And I have a hard time believing that the tractor and disc was taller than 13'6"

Just a wild guess here......but I suspect the tractor didnt hit the bridge. I would guess that the bridge started to collapse. Once that happend....THEN the tractor started tangling with the steel braces

Another issue with steel truss bridges, corrosion, a bridge that old may or may not have been adequately maintained. One or two rivets fail and the twenty ton rating is suddenly no longer valid! Structure fails because one of the critical bits is no longer there....

 

[tvman]

Actually this is the second bridge taken down in Boone county. Last year a bridge was taken down by what the Sheriffs dept said was probably a large tractor.

There have been rewards offered for any information but so far nothing has turned up.

 

[RobS]

Nice pic! Which one is you? Although you could tell me anyone and I wouldn't know the difference.

Right in the middle with the Purdue Jersey...

To keep on track with this thread, I'd rather doubt a tractor of any size would make this bridge! It held up to us cyclists just fine though.

 

[k0ua]

They said last nite on our local news that the tractor operator said he forgot that the disc was wider than the bridge. I don't know how true this is, but that was what they reported. They had some better pictures. I think this is pretty close to what happened.

 

[DieselBound]

I'm thinking that the guy's "tractor operator" license is going to be revoked! Any guesses on the total bill for this "forgetting?"