Speeding semi gets smashed up at the 11foot8 bridge yovo68 2019-04-05 | +++ Please support us on Patreon: patreon.com/11foot8 +++In the evening hours of March 28, a semi truck hit the 11foot8 bridge in quite a spectacular fashion, at pretty high speed scattering debris across the intersection. Luckily no one was injured! The busted semi trailer was wedged under the trestle for over 90 Minutes before the recovery operators were able to winch it out of the canopener's "jaws" ... the beast has been fed! This was crash # 145 since April 2008 ... and probably the biggest mess we have seen here, yet.
Boxtruck crash sprays debris at the 11foot8 bridge yovo68 2023-07-15 | Only the second crash this year at the 11foot8 bridge, but on July 6 a box truck driver ignored the warning signals and hit the crash beam of the canopener bridge. Pieces of the roof were scattered all over the road! This was crash # 178 since 2008.
Speeding truck runs red light and hits the 11foot8+8 bridge yovo68 2023-02-25 | After a veeery long dry spell, the canopener snagged some pieces off of a red-light running rental truck. The truck came down Gregson Street at a good clip, most likely faster than the 25MpH speed limit, ran the light by a solid 2 seconds and ended up leaving a couple of pounds of metal debris under the bridge. After a short break - presumably to assess the damage - the driver decided to continue, leaving the debris in the road for others to clean up. This was crash #177 since 2008.
Another left turn crash at the 11foot8+8 bridge yovo68 2022-06-18 | On Jun 14, a Penske truck turned left onto Gregson St, only to find the canopener bridge waiting to pounce. This was crash # 176 since 2008.
Camper trailer loses equipment at the 11foot8+8 bridge yovo68 2022-04-29 | The last 4 months were quiet at the canopener bridge - presumably due to construction and frequent road closures on Gregson St. right at the bridge and on the stretch south of the tracks. However yesterday, on April 26 - a camper trailer had some of its rooftop equipment removed at the canopener bridge. This was recorded as crash # 175 since April 2008.
Truck turns left and hits the 11foot8+8 bridge yovo68 2021-12-15 | ////// Support us on Patreon at patreon.com/11foot8 \\\\\\On December 6, 2021 a box truck made a left onto Gregson St and made contact with the canopener bridge. Trucks turning from Peabody St onto Gregson should be able to see the low-clearance sign at the stop light, but if the driver is not aware of the truck's clearance requirements, that information might not help. This is crash #174 since 2008.
Semi truck loses stacks at the 11foot8+8 bridge yovo68 2021-10-28 | ////// Support us on Patreon at patreon.com/11foot8 \\\\\\On October 21, a semi truck damaged the faring and stacks when the driver pulled under the canopener bridge. When the driver then reflexively decided to just put it in reverse and back out, he REALLY messed up the fairing and lost one of the exhaust stacks. This was crash # 173 since 2008.
Roof ripper at the 11foot8+8 bridge yovo68 2021-10-23 | ////// Support us on Patreon at patreon.com/11foot8 \\\\\\On Oct 14, another box truck managed to get the roof ripped off at the 11foot8+8 bridge. That was crash #172 since 2008.
Roof removal at the 11foot8+8 bridge yovo68 2021-07-30 | ////// Support us on Patreon at patreon.com/11foot8 \\\\\\\\\\ We post additional footage from crashes like this on our Patreon page ////On July 29, a rental box truck pulled off a proper roof removal from a stand-still at the red traffic light. The driver ignored low-clearance signage at 3 preceding intersections and a large flashing warning sign "OVERHEIGHT - MUST TURN" while standing at a red traffic light for a minute, only to floor it when the light tuned green and have the roof shaved clear off his truck. This was crash #171 at this bridge since 2008.
Rental truck crash debris hits innocent vehicle at the 11foot8+8 bridge yovo68 2021-07-18 | On July 15, an rental boxtruck hits the canopener and a chunk of crash debris falls onto a pickup in the other lane. This was crash # 170 since April 2008.
Boxtruck tries to sneak up to the 11foot8+8 bridge yovo68 2021-07-18 | On July 12, a boxtruck tried to old "be vewy vewy qwiet" approach to try to sneak under the canopener. It did not work for Elmer Fudd, and neither did it for this truck. But at least they were slow and just got a bit of a "love nibble" from our hungry beast. This was still recorded by your diligent observer as crash #169.
Semi destroys fairing at the 11foot8+8 bridge yovo68 2021-06-26 | On 6/23, a truck driver miscalculated the height of the fairing on top of the cab of his truck, ignored all the signs and the flashing warning signal, and confidently challenged the canopener bridge. Check out the video to see what happened. This was crash # 168 since 2008.
Perfect peel at the 11foot8+8 bridge yovo68 2021-05-13 | ////// Support us on Patreon at patreon.com/11foot8 \\\\\\\\\\ We post additional footage from crashes like this on our Patreon page ////On May 11, a courier truck came cruising down Gregson St. to beat the light and ended up getting a perfect, clean roof removal from the canopener bridge. This was crash #167 since 2008.
Another delivery truck scrapes the roof at the 11foot8+8 bridge yovo68 2021-04-30 | Last April 2021 crash! Just 42 minutes after the reefer truck, another delivery truck from a hardware store scraped the roof pretty badly. The roof stayed on, but some piece of the box fell off, so I am calling it crash #166
Reefer truck makes a mess at the 11foot8+8 bridge yovo68 2021-04-29 | ////// Support us on Patreon at patreon.com/11foot8 \\\\\\\\\\ We post additional footage from crashes like this on our Patreon page ////On April 9th, a speeding reefer truck did not calibrate to the clearance requirements of the beast of Gregson St and ended up making a mess made a mess at the canopener. The driver came back and cleaned up a bit, but insulation material ended up littering the area for a while. This was crash # 165 since 2008.
Rental boxtruck gets stuck as train crosses the 11foot8+8 bridge yovo68 2021-04-23 | ////// Support us on Patreon at patreon.com/11foot8 \\\\\\\\\\ We post additional footage from crashes like this on our Patreon page ////On April 7, a Penske truck hit the canopener, got peeled and then stuck, right as the #75 Piedmont from Raleigh to Charlotte was crossing the bridge. 45 Minutes later the truck was extracted from the jaws of the canopener. This is crash #164 since 2008.
Speeding delivery truck scrapes the roof at the 11foot8+8 bridge yovo68 2021-04-16 | ////// Support us on Patreon at patreon.com/11foot8 \\\\\\Continuing our spring canopener feast: on April 2nd, a delivery truck from a hardware store was in a real hurry and ended up scraping the roof and leaving a few pieces behind at the canopener. This was crash # 163 since 2008
Camper A/C units chewed off by hungry 11foot8+8 bridge yovo68 2021-04-09 | ////// Support us on Patreon at patreon.com/11foot8 \\\\\\This is the second installment in our series "It's spring and the canopener is hungry" ... Last week an expensive-looking camper trailer had its air-conditioning units "chewed" off by the Gregson St canopener. That was crash #162 since 2008.
Crane truck almost defeats the 11foot8+8 bridge yovo68 2021-04-02 | ////// Support us on Patreon at patreon.com/11foot8 \\\\\\On March 31, at crane truck hit the Gregson St canopener and knocked it around pretty good. The hinge of the crane got stuck between the crash beam and the bridge, and they had to completely flatten the tires of the truck to get it out. The bridge also had to be inspected, so the next train could cross it. It took over an hour to get the truck out, but at least one lane was still open, and traffic is not yet back up to pre-pandemic levels. Footage of the extraction is posted on our Patreon site. Become a supporter of this channel and enjoy early access to the videos and additional content.This was crash #161 since 2008.
Semi truck gets fairing stuck at the 11foot8+8 bridge yovo68 2020-11-16 | ////// Support us on Patreon at patreon.com/11foot8 \\\\\\On Friday the 13th, a semi truck tempted its fate at the canopener bridge and got briefly stuck. The driver dropped the air suspension, thereby lowering the cab just enough to escape the grip of the hungry beast. Even though damage was minimal, enough unintentional contact was made for this to count as #160 since 2008.
11foot8+8 2020 crash compilation yovo68 2020-11-09 | ////// Support us on Patreon at patreon.com/11foot8 \\\\\\In celebration of "canopener day" on 11/8 we're posting this video of the crashes since last November, after the bridge was raised. Despite the COVID lockdown the bridge still snagged 9 trucks or campers in the last 12 months. We hope you enjoy this compilation!
HVAC truck comes in hot and gets stopped cold at the 11foot8+8 bridge yovo68 2020-10-02 | On Sept. 29 an HVAC company's boxtruck came cruising down Gregson at pretty good clip and just beats the light ... but not the bridge. After a couple of nibbles over the last couple of weeks, this seems to have been the main course for the beast of Gregson St. We shall see if the bridge is satisfied for a while. This was crash 159 since April 2008.
Camping trailer gets A/C deleted at the 11foot8+8 bridge yovo68 2020-10-01 | On Sept 22, a camper trailer had he A/C unit and other rooftop equipment "deleted" when the driver of the tow vehicle decided to ignore the posted clearance, AND the LED warning panel AND the red traffic light. Messy, expensive mistake. This was crash 158 since April 2008 (and #2 in September!)
Reefer truck breaks the spell at the 11foot8+8 bridge yovo68 2020-09-25 | The beast is back! On Sept 15, a rental refrigerated (reefer) truck breaks the long dry spell for the 11foot8+8 bridge. This is crash #157 since April 2008
Social distancing violation at the 11foot8+8 bridge yovo68 2020-05-22 | On May 14th, a hapless boxtruck violated the social distancing of the canopener bridge and got a bit chewed up. The bridge requires only a few inches distance, not 6 feet, but it's also not a "guideline" or optional .. it's the law (of physics)!
One last snack for the bridge before Durham goes quiet yovo68 2020-03-28 | +++ Please support us on Patreon: patreon.com/11foot8 +++ On March 20, six days before the Stay-at-Home order for Durham went in effect, the canopener snagged another quick bite out of a boxtruck. Now it's already quiet in Durham, and soon state-wide, as we shelter at home to try to weather the Coronavirus pandemic. I don't expect the bridge will be getting many trucks to munch on for a while. Stay safe and healthy, y'all!
Snowday snack for the 11foot8+8 bridge yovo68 2020-02-28 | +++ Please support us on Patreon: patreon.com/11foot8 +++On Feb. 21, after getting a bit of snow the night before, the canopener bridge grabbed another Penske rental truck as a snack. This was crash #154 since 2008 ... and the 4th crash since the bridge was raised to 12 foot 4 inches last October.
Partial Penske Peel at the 11foot8+8 bridge yovo68 2020-01-04 | January 3 the 11foot8+8 bridge managed to chew a pretty good bit off of a Penske rental truck. This is getting pretty close to a proper meal, now :) This is crash #153 since 2008.
Furniture goes flying at the 11foot8+8 bridge yovo68 2019-12-30 | Dec. 19, a junk hauler lost a piece of furniture at the canopener. The guy came back and removed it. No biggie :) Enjoy the video ... we're counting this as "crash" 152.
The new canopener nibbles on a box truck yovo68 2019-11-28 | On November 26, the new 12foot4 canopener tried to snag its first truck, but it only managed to get a nibble! Still, we're counting it as "crash #151" since the truck was clearly damaged. I actually collected the piece that fell off :)
The new, shiny 11foot8 +8 canopener is open for business yovo68 2019-11-07 | Here are some shots of the newly renovated 11foot8 +8 canopener bridge on Gregson St in Durham. Over the weekend, the newly raised bridge was cleaned up, sandblasted and painted. Yesterday, they moved all the equipment out and straightened out the tracks one more time. Today on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2019 at 9:50 AM Gregson St. was re-opened and traffic started flowing again under the canopener bridge, now with a posted clearance of 12' 4" (3.76 meters). Although, when I measured the actual clearance it was 12' 8" (3.86 meters) at the crash beam.
Raising the 11foot8 bridge by 8 inches yovo68 2019-11-01 | On October 29, 2019, a crew hired by Norfolk Southern and the NC Railroad Company raised the 11foo8 bridge on Gregson St. in Durham, NC by 8 inches (20 cm) to increase the clearance over Gregson St to 12 foot 4 inches. The purpose of this $500000 project was to improve traffic safety at this railroad trestle. We have documented 150 crashes of overheight vehicles at the old 11foot8 bridge since April 2008. This is the end of the old 11foot8 canopener ... welcome to the 11foot8 +8 bridge. Let's see what happens :)
Boxtruck carnage on Friday the 13th at the 11foot8 bridge yovo68 2019-10-29 | +++ Please support us on Patreon: patreon.com/11foot8 +++One of the two "lost crashes" from September. This is a classic canopener and yes, it did happen of Friday the 13th! They managed to back out the truck, but it was in bad shape. Drive safely and enjoy the video! We'll count this as crash # 150 (since 2008).
Budget not low enough for the 11foot8 bridge yovo68 2019-10-29 | +++ Please support us on Patreon: patreon.com/11foot8 +++One of two "missing" crashes from September. This truck from Budget rental is trying to sneak up on the 11foot8 bridge from the side street. The truck almost gets stuck, but they can back it out and get away. Some pretty interesting approaches to road safety by some of the other drivers. Stay safe, y'all! We're counting this as crash #149 (since 2008).
Preparing to raise the 11foot8 bridge yovo68 2019-10-27 | +++ Please support us on Patreon: patreon.com/11foot8 +++On October 26, I spent the afternoon at the 11foot8 bridge as the crew was working on preparing the structure for raising it next week. They cut off the rusty steel supports of the old walkway on the southern side of the trestle, and they removed the battered, bent crash beam that was the canopener's "teeth" for taking bites out of many a hapless, overheight truck on Gregson St. I hope you all enjoy the video.
Excavator on trailer bites back at the 11foot8 bridge yovo68 2019-10-14 | +++ Please support us on Patreon: patreon.com/11foot8 +++After a bit of a summer lull, on Oct. 3rd the 11foot8 bridge tried to snag a nibble from the trailer of an unsuspecting construction truck, but ended up choking on this little snack. No idea how bad the damage was to the excavator, but the impact did knock a bunch of accumulated debris from the crash beam, and the bridge seemed to get a pretty good jolt from this impact. This is one of the rare moments where a "victim" of the our little monster fought back the bridge and almost got the better of it. This is crash #148 since April 2008.
Bucket truck gets chewed up at the 11foot8 bridge yovo68 2019-06-29 | +++ Please support us on Patreon: patreon.com/11foot8 +++On June 18, a bucket truck fell prey to the "monster of Gregson Street" ... the driver said he was sure the vehicle would fit, but he was clearly mistaken. The bucket was pretty badly damaged and the "hinge" where the two arms connect hit the beam pretty hard and knocked down a bunch of old canopener debris. They stopped and checked out the problem and cleaned up a bit before carrying on. Enjoy the video, and please drive carefully! This was crash #147 since 2008.
Two trucks tango at the 11foot8 bridge yovo68 2019-05-06 | +++ Please support us on Patreon: patreon.com/11foot8 +++A boxtruck hit the crash beam at the canopener bridge and then almost backed into another overheight truck right behind it, as that one was turning onto the side street. After a bit of back and forth and a honk, the dance was over and everyone went about their business. This is crash #146 since 2008.
Boxtruck wrestles with 11foot8 bridge while train crosses yovo68 2019-03-16 | On March 13, another rental boxtruck got stuck at the canopener and ended up in a bit of a wrestling match with the bridge. Right at that time a train crosses the trestle as well. After about 10 Minutes, the bridges finally lets the truck go, but the driver still has to deal with the impatient car drivers, before he can finally get his busted truck out of there. This was crash # 144 since 2008.
Pedestrian dodges truck crash debris at the 11foot8 bridge yovo68 2019-02-25 | +++ Please support us on Patreon: patreon.com/11foot8 +++This is the sequel to this week's "Attack of the reefer trucks," and this time "umbrella man" (on the right) has to run for his life to avoid getting hit by the flying debris. This time the bridge wouldn't let go so easily of the truck, and so they had to bring in a big tow truck to remove the busted reefer truck. The entire operation took almost 2 hours, during which Gregson St. was completely blocked off on a Friday at lunchtime! This road has a traffic volume of 11k-12k vehicles a day, so traffic was a mess, too. Enjoy the video! This is crash # 143 since April 2008.
Pedestrian escapes reefer truck carnage at the 11foot8 bridge yovo68 2019-02-25 | +++ Please support us on Patreon: patreon.com/11foot8 +++This week's theme at the 11foot8 bridge was the "attack of the killer reefer trucks!" The bridge got a good "meal" out of this, but in both cases it was a close call for some innocent pedestrians. In this crash, on Thursday, a woman almost got hit by flying debris from this refrigerated truck that slammed into the bridge after stopping at the light. This is crash #142 since April 2008.
Red light runner hits the 11foot8 bridge yovo68 2019-01-25 | Part 2 of 2-fer Thursday (re-light-runner edition). A speeding boxtruck runs the red light and hits the trestle's crash beam. The driver keeps on going but leaves behind some nice crash art :) This is crash 141 since April 2008.
Semi de-cab-itated at the 11foot8 bridge yovo68 2019-01-25 | Thursday was "2-fer Thursday" apparently ... the first crash involved a semi truck, which is a pretty rare occasion for the bridge. The driver runs the red light, ignores all the low-clearance warnings and ends up getting his truck's cab pretty badly chewed up by the bridge. This is crash 140 since April 2008.
Truck crashes at the 11foot8 bridge and then hits a car yovo68 2019-01-11 | This is the first crash at the 11foot8 bridge this year and #139 since 2008. During the first 40 seconds, you can see that the traffic light switches to red and the overheight warning sign lights up (triggered by the overheight truck). Then the sign starts flashing and the traffic signal switches to green. The truck driver had about 50 seconds to notice the warning sign next to the traffic signal and to decide whether or not to heed the warning. as many before, this driver decided to go for it. As he is backing out of the bridge, he backs into a car behind him.
Red light runner crashes at the 11foot8 bridge yovo68 2018-12-24 | On Dec. 14, the driver of yet another tall boxtruck ignored the red traffic light at Gregson and Peabody, ignored the overheight warning signage and slammed into the 11foot8 bridge. I did not see that crash, but I noticed some new debris a few days later. It took me while to find the footage, but here it is. Sorry for the poor video quality at the end, but something must have interfered with the the WiFi signal from the camera across the street. This is crash #138 since April 2008.
Snowstorm time lapse (no crash) yovo68 2018-12-10 | No crash here, but 12 hours of snow fall at the 11foot8 bridge in a video of less than 2 minutes. December 9, Durham got about 8 inches (20 cm) of snow and this time lapse video shows what that looked like from 2AM to 2PM.
Boxtruck returns to challenge the 11foot8 bridge yovo68 2018-11-25 | In the wee hours of Monday Nov. 19, the driver of the Enterprise rental truck initially seemed to heed the warning, steering clear of the canopener bridge. However the same truck (presumably) shows up 2 Minutes later (the time it takes to drive around the block) with renewed confidence and challenges the bridge. And since it is posted here, you can imagine what happened. This was crash #137 since April 2008.
11foot8 canopener traps truck yovo68 2018-11-20 | Friday evening, another Penske truck tried to sneak under the canopener bridge, but the bridge is hungry these days and chomps down on the hapless truck. It took them an hour and forty minutes to free the busted truck from the jaws of the canopener. This was crash 136 since April 2008.
Wakeup call at the 11foot8 bridge yovo68 2018-11-16 | On the morning of Nov 12, the driver of this boxtruck runs the red light and then slams the brakes to avoid having the truck chewed up by the canopener. It's just a wakeup bump this time, but it's good enough to count as crash # 135.
Boxtruck crashes at 11foot8 and then hits another low bridge yovo68 2018-11-12 | NO ADS! Please support us on Patreon: patreon.com/11foot8On Nov. 7, just 2 days after crash 133, the early morning crash, another boxtruck hits the canopener, backs out and drives off. Then the driver steers his busted truck downtown and hits a 12-foot-clearance bridge on Chapel Hill St. as well! Yes - the same truck hits two different low-clearance bridges within minutes!Thanks to Ben Oliver and David Olson for sending us the photos of the second crash!
