This is a story about a truck that tried to drive under the bridge near the UVa campus at the corner of 14th St and University Avenue in Charlottesville.
Well, it’s a short story. That’s because the truck required a clearance of more than 10 feet and the bridge caused the truck to become wedged. Stopped. Cold.
The reason we’re repeating the story, is because it’s not a new story and it’s not the first time and it’s likely not to be the last time that this will happen. The bridge is a railroad bridge, a relic from a previous era. It’s a very low bridge, in an area that has a lot of congestion and distractions.
Granted…. there are signs posted to warn of the bridge height (or I guess more accurately, to warn of the bridge’s absence of height). There are also crosswalk signs, stoplights, pizza signs, parking signs, graffiti, statues, and plenty of other distractions for drivers at that same intersection.
The amazing part is that this doesn’t happen more frequently. This bridge is just a few buildings away from a U-Haul facility in Charlottesville, where trucks of all sizes and shapes are rented to folks who may have only a dim knowledge of how to drive them.
Locals say that part of the charm of the South is that the railroads that still run through even the best neighborhoods and along the scenic river corridors. Farmington Country Club, Keswick Hall and Estates…. all are adjacent to railroads.
Railroads still seem to win an occasional battle with today’s trucks too.
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