I-65 Bridge VS Excavator - both lost.

This happened today in my area where they are currently widening I-65 from 2 to 4 lanes, north and south in Central AL. For the record - none of these are my pics. The rig that hit it looks like a Volvo 235 on a lowboy with a rock box loaded on. Not 100% sure if both were on the trailer at the same time. Knocked the **** out of it. This exit is where county road 87 crosses over 65. Also the exit off 65 for several distribution centers and our local Cat dealer. We did a 50K SF warehouse expansion in the same business park off this exit several years ago. Don't see the bridge opening back up anytime soon. ALDOT put out a press release that they are trying to open up the southbound lane of 65 sometime tonight. It's going to a mess in the area for a while. Hope I don't need any Cat parts anytime soon.

That thing looks like it skid some distance after it left the trailer I bet it was pretty epic to watch

I wonder if the car in the ditch had a front row seat when it happened??

Dude, I've never seen a standard boom 200 class excavator that can't fold up enough on a lowboy to clear interstate bridges. He had to have that rock box on the rear of the trailer preventing being able to tuck the boom/stick in properly. Just damn driver!

I would bet the rock box was the straw that broke the cammels back in this scenario probably held the boom from going all the way down

I was wondering the same thing, I know most excavators (excluding the ones with unusual booms ratio) can easily fold to or very close to the cab's roof height. And @bam1968 regarding that car sitting sideway in the grass, after zooming in I would say it really had a very close-up view for sure, as the windshield for sure looks like its all cracked up and theres even some visible roof cresting as well. THAT driver really needs a total change of clothings for sure!

bam1968 said: I wonder if the car in the ditch had a front row seat when it happened?? Click to expand... I believe so. There were some serious injuries. Screen shots from the video below. Video from a local news outlet -

The rig that hit the bridge is one of the contractors working on the widening. Only assuming they were moving equipment up and down the project.

Guess they will need a change order for a bridge rebuild

CM1995 said: The rig that hit the bridge is one of the contractors working on the widening. Only assuming they were moving equipment up and down the project. Click to expand... If that was a contractor working on the widening, then that driver was doing hammer down moving equipment. That smack was at top speed and he felt it.

Very similar to the Bullfrog overpass I-90 around a year ago. It was repaired very fast. *

Yeah that happens in this state it seems the truck insurance gets off free. Why not tax payer's are rich here. No excuse for that happening in any state. That should be the last truck that the driver ever drives in this country.

Wow! The top cylinder is broken and it bent the boom!

willie59 said: If that was a contractor working on the widening, then that driver was doing hammer down moving equipment. That smack was at top speed and he felt it. Click to expand... The rig and excavator belong to one of the contractors working on the widening. At this point I don't know if they were moving that excavator and rock box down the project or it was coming from another job. Same contractor is doing another widening project in the area so it could have came from there. Either way it looks like he was hauling ass.

AzIron said: Guess they will need a change order for a bridge rebuild Click to expand... Yeah. I don't think that bridge was designated to be replaced but it probably will now. This project is roughly $110M and is broke up in 3 phases with 3 different GC's. This contractor was apparently working for all 3 doing grade, drain and base. The legal fall out is going to get messy to say the least.

It will be a mess for whoever gets picked to be the insurance adjuster. Does the company carry enough liability insurance to cover the repairs of the bridge? How about damages to any of the incidental victims? Is the victims insurance going to cover their losses if the truck owners can't? Did the company have insurance on the truck and excavator enough to cover those damages? I've worked on a couple of cases where there wasn't enough coverage and the state ends up with the bridge bill and the victims end up holding the bag.

If I had a nickel for every time somebody hit a bridge in Kansas with an excavator loaded forward and punched through the bridge deck, I'd have 2 nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird it happened twice. Outside of Hays on I-70: Last year in Osage County on US-75

It seems like it’s mostly excavators. Machines that can be lowered to legal height but aren’t. Guys pulling a lowbed that shouldn’t.

John C. said: It will be a mess for whoever gets picked to be the insurance adjuster. Does the company carry enough liability insurance to cover the repairs of the bridge? How about damages to any of the incidental victims? Is the victims insurance going to cover their losses if the truck owners can't? Did the company have insurance on the truck and excavator enough to cover those damages? I've worked on a couple of cases where there wasn't enough coverage and the state ends up with the bridge bill and the victims end up holding the bag. Click to expand... John this is how the rig in this accident is broken down - Hauling company - lowboy and truck Rental company - excavator Contractor - hiring both Here's the kicker - all separate companies however all owned by the same person. Now the wild card is who owns the rock box?

hvy 1ton said: If I had a nickel for every time somebody hit a bridge in Kansas with an excavator loaded forward and punched through the bridge deck, I'd have 2 nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird it happened twice. Outside of Hays on I-70: Last year in Osage County on US-75 Click to expand... Looks like the Cat kept all it's cylinders.. Why on God's creation called Earth would ANYONE haul an excavator with the boom facing forward? Even to the rear **** happens like this I-65 crash but damn I don't even haul mini's with the boom forward.