Drivers continue to struggle with warning system for low bridge
NEWARK, Del. - Casho Mill Road in Newark, Delaware, has just as many signs as an interstate, all warning about an eight foot, seven inch railroad bridge.
"A lot of trucks do have to make U-turns because they are too big," says Robin Kondzielawa, a Newark resident.
Which is where the orange clankers installed two years ago come into play, as a last alert that a vehicle isn’t going to make it under the bridge.
"People just don’t read the signs, and you can hear them when they hit the beams at my house," says Kelly Daughtry, a Newark resident.
One instance earlier in the week pointed out a driver didn’t read or apparently hear the clankers.
New warning system for a low bridge in Newark aims to eliminate constant crashes
The bright orange clankers are seemingly hard to miss and are designed to reduce crashes at the bridge to zero.
The Delaware Department of Transportation posted a video with some comic relief, showcasing a truck slowing down, hitting the clankers and continue driving, and then, kaboom into the bridge.
"Now they’re adding humor to it, to try to get everybody’s attention, to say while it’s not funny, let’s add some music to it, see who else will pay attention," says Daughtry.
One truck driver got stuck after repeated warnings to turn around.
"When we saw this happen, we were all just very confused as to why someone would continue to go through despite all those obvious warnings, ultimately causing themselves a lot of heartache and grief by hitting that bridge," says C.R. McLeod, the Director of Community Relations at DelDOT.
Despite the recent incident, believe it or not, the clankers have been working, and since their installation there haven’t been any bridge strikes until earlier in the week.
"This bridge had been struck more than 70 times in the proceeding 10 years so, two years ago, we were feeling really good about the impact of the new system, until we most recently had this new video come up and, in our opinion, the clankers are still undefeated," says McLeod.
The clankers have worked so well DeLDOT is installing more at the start of September to some other problem bridges within the state.