Bridge collapse on M20
Discussion
valiant said:
According to BBC it got whacked by a lorry.
Doesn't make a lot of sense unless it was an abnormal load. It should have a huge amount of clearance for a regular artic, especially as this is a box trailer and not a flat bed which I would have thought it more normal for abnormal loads.Impressed at how strong the remaining half is. Not that I'd want to walk on it but I'd have expected the whole lot to fail at once.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BJnGBzdDsDh/
Beeb has a picture of the lorry that hit it and is reporting a single injury. I wonder how tall the trailer was- the top of the cab appears to be damaged too, which I wouldn't expect.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BJnGBzdDsDh/
Beeb has a picture of the lorry that hit it and is reporting a single injury. I wonder how tall the trailer was- the top of the cab appears to be damaged too, which I wouldn't expect.
Can't see it being a truck that's done it. The one pictured is foreign so won't be more than 4 metres tall. Motorway bridges in the UK all have at least 5 metres clearance.
The partly raised arm on the digger in this video looks rather suspicious to me, especially given the proximity to the bridge. Is that sat on the back of trailer as it looks rather high off the deck to me? :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwmU6dF68mU
The partly raised arm on the digger in this video looks rather suspicious to me, especially given the proximity to the bridge. Is that sat on the back of trailer as it looks rather high off the deck to me? :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwmU6dF68mU
Edited by All that jazz on Saturday 27th August 13:24
Yeah seems a bit odd. The news seems to suggest that the bridge was hit by the lorry, but looking at the damage looks like it's taken the top off the trailer.
It looks like a euro spec lorry (probably heading for the ports) which would be 4m high.
U.K. Motorway bridges are at least 16ft 6inches.
Unless he hit the pillar i can't see it having anything to do with the lorry tbh.
It looks like a euro spec lorry (probably heading for the ports) which would be 4m high.
U.K. Motorway bridges are at least 16ft 6inches.
Unless he hit the pillar i can't see it having anything to do with the lorry tbh.
I wonder if the lorry on the hard shoulder is involved. Maybe that weakened the side support somehow? Can't see good pics, but it must have been there at the time of the drop as the bridge is in the middle of that one too? The clearance on the hard shoulder might be smaller.
I'd agree the white truck doesn't look high enough - it looks like the bridge had already dropped a metre or so, and skimmed off the top of the truck, then fell completely - guillotining the truck. The bridge is concrete and way too heavy to be supported by a truck or its cab.
Are these bridges also joined at the middle with an overlapping L shaped join? Might explain why half is still there as its like a cantilever and each half self supporting - or at least one half is.
I'd agree the white truck doesn't look high enough - it looks like the bridge had already dropped a metre or so, and skimmed off the top of the truck, then fell completely - guillotining the truck. The bridge is concrete and way too heavy to be supported by a truck or its cab.
Are these bridges also joined at the middle with an overlapping L shaped join? Might explain why half is still there as its like a cantilever and each half self supporting - or at least one half is.
I reckon it's the truck on the hard shoulder with the red digger on the back. The arch of the bridge is rather low over the h/s and if the arm wasn't folded away properly it will have struck the bridge. Is there roadworks going on there at the moment? Maybe he'd just collected it or was delivering it and the works access is along the h/s but I don't see any cones to support this theory.
All that jazz said:
I reckon it's the truck on the hard shoulder with the red digger on the back. The arch of the bridge is rather low over the h/s and if the arm wasn't folded away properly it will have struck the bridge. Is there roadworks going on there at the moment? Maybe he'd just collected it or was delivering it and the works access is along the h/s but I don't see any cones to support this theory.
The Daily Mail is reporting it was the digger on the trailer.Munter said:
All that jazz said:
I reckon it's the truck on the hard shoulder with the red digger on the back. The arch of the bridge is rather low over the h/s and if the arm wasn't folded away properly it will have struck the bridge. Is there roadworks going on there at the moment? Maybe he'd just collected it or was delivering it and the works access is along the h/s but I don't see any cones to support this theory.
The Daily Mail is reporting it was the digger on the trailer.I think it's the one in this pic, you can see it in the background:
All that jazz said:
Munter said:
That's only a "duck" as they're known in the industry. Won't have been that. There's a ~ 20 tonne red digger at 20 seconds in the video in my post above which shows the arm partly raised - it's likely to have been that imho.The disruption must be causing all manner of pain in the area.
I'd hazard a guess that neither of those trucks have caused the bridge to collapse. The plant carrier has a digger on the back but the arm is still in situ and appears undamaged. The foreign reefer looks to have been struck by the falling bridge rather than having struck it in its original position - the trailer has been guillotined at the rear and as others have said it's overall height won't have troubled a motorway bridge.
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