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Bridge strike
Bridge strike or tunnel strike (also known as bridge bashing) is a transport accident in which a vehicle collides with a bridge, overpass, or tunnel structure. Bridge-strike road accidents, in which an over-height vehicle collides with the underside of the structure, occur frequently and are a major issue worldwide. In waterways, the term encompasses water vessel–bridge collisions, including bridge span and support structure collisions.
In United Kingdom, railway bridge strikes (called "bridge bashing") happen on an average of once every four and a half hours, with total of 1789 times in 2019. Several bridges have been hit over 20 times in a single year. The total cost borne by the state was around £23 million. In Beijing, China, 20% of all bridge damage is caused by bridge strike. Texas Department of Transportation estimated in 2013 that an average cost to repair a bridge strike is $180,000 USD.
Strikes that don't damage the bridges can significantly damage the vehicles. There are many examples of buses having their roof completely cut off by bridge strike, such as Birkenhead in 2014, Long Island in 2018, and Glasgow in 2023. Local communities also incur costs related to strikes without bridge damage, including those due to road closures, police response and cleanup. From 2021 to 2022, Network Rail lost £12 million in train delay and cancellation fees.
The severity of damage to bridges caused by strikes can vary depending on the type of impact and the differences in damage resistance among bridges. Some of them are not structural damages and only minor repairs are required. Some major structural damages require extensive repairs, for example, an overpass strike in Nashville in 2018 caused a structural beam to be twisted, resulting in repair cost of nearly one million US dollars. Repairs of structural damages can be long and complicated process. In order to allow traffic to get moving as soon as possible, officials may need to implement emergency repairs before permanent repair solutions can be implemented. For example, a bridge strike in York County, Pennsylvania in 2022 required a large temporary stabilizing frame to be added to the top of the bridge. After the second strike on the same spot six months later, the permanent repair was further delayed and the estimate costs of the permanent repair increased to $1.5 million USD.
A single bridge strike may result in a catastrophic bridge damage. An example of that is the I-5 Skagit River bridge collapse. The collapse was caused by a truck with an oversize load that was taller than the clearance above of the bridge. The bridge was a steel through-truss bridge with a "fracture-critical" design that has non-redundant load-bearing beams. An impact of the oversize load to multiple sway braces was enough to damage load-bearing members and caused a span to be collapsed, resulting in vehicles falling down to the river with three minor injuries.
Beyond damages and economic impacts, bridge strikes can result in serious injuries and fatalities. In 1994, five passengers of a double-decker bus were killed by a low-bridge strike in Glasgow. In 2010, a rail bridge strike of a double-decker bus on a New York parkway killed 4 passengers. In the United States, 13 people died in bridge strike accidents between 2014 and 2018. In 2022, a truck carrying liquified petroleum gas scraped the underside of a low bridge in Boksburg, South Africa, causing an explosion that killed at least 8 people.
Some countries have standards on minimum vertical clearance of roadway. Any structures that do not meet that clearance would need to have warning signs. The United Kingdom has a standard on minimum clearance of a public highway at 16 feet 6 inches (5.03 m). Any bridges that do not meet the clearance requirement are considered to be "low bridges" and they require to have signage to indicate the clearance.
In United States, the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices requires the placement of warning signs for any structure with vertical clearance less than 12 inches (30 cm) more than the legal maximum vehicle height. Warning signs installed on the structure can use either diamond or rectangle shapes, while advanced warning signs, must be diamonds. States, not the federal government, set maximum vehicle heights. The most common maximum, used by 32 eastern states, is 13 feet 6 inches (4.11 m). This effectively sets a requirement for signage at structures in those states lower than 14 feet 6 inches (4.42 m). Higher legal maximum vehicle height limits used in other states.
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Bridge strike
Bridge strike or tunnel strike (also known as bridge bashing) is a transport accident in which a vehicle collides with a bridge, overpass, or tunnel structure. Bridge-strike road accidents, in which an over-height vehicle collides with the underside of the structure, occur frequently and are a major issue worldwide. In waterways, the term encompasses water vessel–bridge collisions, including bridge span and support structure collisions.
In United Kingdom, railway bridge strikes (called "bridge bashing") happen on an average of once every four and a half hours, with total of 1789 times in 2019. Several bridges have been hit over 20 times in a single year. The total cost borne by the state was around £23 million. In Beijing, China, 20% of all bridge damage is caused by bridge strike. Texas Department of Transportation estimated in 2013 that an average cost to repair a bridge strike is $180,000 USD.
Strikes that don't damage the bridges can significantly damage the vehicles. There are many examples of buses having their roof completely cut off by bridge strike, such as Birkenhead in 2014, Long Island in 2018, and Glasgow in 2023. Local communities also incur costs related to strikes without bridge damage, including those due to road closures, police response and cleanup. From 2021 to 2022, Network Rail lost £12 million in train delay and cancellation fees.
The severity of damage to bridges caused by strikes can vary depending on the type of impact and the differences in damage resistance among bridges. Some of them are not structural damages and only minor repairs are required. Some major structural damages require extensive repairs, for example, an overpass strike in Nashville in 2018 caused a structural beam to be twisted, resulting in repair cost of nearly one million US dollars. Repairs of structural damages can be long and complicated process. In order to allow traffic to get moving as soon as possible, officials may need to implement emergency repairs before permanent repair solutions can be implemented. For example, a bridge strike in York County, Pennsylvania in 2022 required a large temporary stabilizing frame to be added to the top of the bridge. After the second strike on the same spot six months later, the permanent repair was further delayed and the estimate costs of the permanent repair increased to $1.5 million USD.
A single bridge strike may result in a catastrophic bridge damage. An example of that is the I-5 Skagit River bridge collapse. The collapse was caused by a truck with an oversize load that was taller than the clearance above of the bridge. The bridge was a steel through-truss bridge with a "fracture-critical" design that has non-redundant load-bearing beams. An impact of the oversize load to multiple sway braces was enough to damage load-bearing members and caused a span to be collapsed, resulting in vehicles falling down to the river with three minor injuries.
Beyond damages and economic impacts, bridge strikes can result in serious injuries and fatalities. In 1994, five passengers of a double-decker bus were killed by a low-bridge strike in Glasgow. In 2010, a rail bridge strike of a double-decker bus on a New York parkway killed 4 passengers. In the United States, 13 people died in bridge strike accidents between 2014 and 2018. In 2022, a truck carrying liquified petroleum gas scraped the underside of a low bridge in Boksburg, South Africa, causing an explosion that killed at least 8 people.
Some countries have standards on minimum vertical clearance of roadway. Any structures that do not meet that clearance would need to have warning signs. The United Kingdom has a standard on minimum clearance of a public highway at 16 feet 6 inches (5.03 m). Any bridges that do not meet the clearance requirement are considered to be "low bridges" and they require to have signage to indicate the clearance.
In United States, the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices requires the placement of warning signs for any structure with vertical clearance less than 12 inches (30 cm) more than the legal maximum vehicle height. Warning signs installed on the structure can use either diamond or rectangle shapes, while advanced warning signs, must be diamonds. States, not the federal government, set maximum vehicle heights. The most common maximum, used by 32 eastern states, is 13 feet 6 inches (4.11 m). This effectively sets a requirement for signage at structures in those states lower than 14 feet 6 inches (4.42 m). Higher legal maximum vehicle height limits used in other states.