CALDWELL RAIL BRIDGE DAMAGED
Highway 36 near Caldwell was shut down for several hours Saturday after an 18-wheeler hit a train bridge, causing part of the bridge to collapse.
Caldwell Police Chief Charles Barnes says the 18-wheeler was carrying heavy equipment when it struck the bridge, located near the south city limits of Caldwell.
The debris was cleared and the road re-opened late Saturday afternoon.
Caldwell Police, Burleson County Sheriff's Office and DPS were on scene.
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Another reason trucks hit these bridges is because the State Highway Dept. resurfaces the roads. When they add a layer of material over an existing road the thickness of the road increases. Unfortunately, they never go back and change the bridge height signs when they resurface a road. Over many years of roads being resurfaced, the true bridge height from the road can increase substantially. It would be an interesting exercise to go and measure that bridge and see if the sign displays the correct height!!! Imagine a bridge that measured 16 feet in 1970 and then, after being resurfaced many times may now only be 15′ 6″.
Burleson county has about 4 of these old train bridges that are too short for even concrete trucks, they are on major roads. Drivers have to plot routes accordingly, gps map apps will crash you. Why with the money the railroad makes they can’t rebuild these. The list of wrecks is very long dating back to the beginning of the oil boom in the 80s. Greed of these big corporations is mid boggling.