CITY OF TONAWANDA, N.Y. — Just this month, four trucks hit overpasses in the City of Tonawanda ripping off their roofs.
It's something that keeps happening, despite signs being posted.
If this story sounds familiar, it's because it is. Going back in our Channel 2 archives, we found stories going back at least 10 years about trucks trying fit under the Young Street bridge.
"Last year in 2020, we only had three hits all year. And here we are, in one week, we've had three hits in one week," Captain Fredric Foels with the City of Tonawanda Police Department said.
Just this month alone, in a one-week period, Captain Foels says four truck drivers drove under bridges in the city, squishing their trucks. Three went under the same bridge.
The first was carrying empty liquor bottles for a distillery and hit the Young Street bridge. The second was an empty Penske truck and hit the overpass on East Niagara Street. The third hit the Young Street bridge and kept going until police got the driver to stop. And the fourth crash happened Tuesday when a small box truck tried fitting under the Young Street bridge.
All of the crashes happened at different times of the day.
"The bridge itself is owned by CSX, so it's not city property, and what we've done as far as the city is concerned, is over the years, we've tripled the recommended signage that the DOT says you should have for a low bridge. We've tripled it. We've even downgraded that section of Young Street to not a truck route," Captain Foels said.
"So, the things that we've done in the city, we've done all the measures that we could and then some. And back in 2019, the UB engineering students got involved, and they did a summer-long study on the bridge, looked at all our data, and basically their conclusion was, hey, you've done, exceeded what's recommended, and a lot of times the onus falls on the driver. Simple as that."
No one was hurt in these latest crashes, and the bridges weren't damaged, but the trucks certainly were.
"Let's take a shortcut. Let's avoid the tolls. I'm running late on time. I want to cut through, and this and that," Captain Foels said. "There's a commercial GPS, which counters that, which shows truck routes, weight limits, height limits. And unfortunately, this past week, the three of them didn't have the commercial GPS on their phone. They had a regular GPS app on their regular cell phone."
Every time this happens, CSX comes out to inspect the bridge before the road reopens.
It's something Cheryl Ward, who shared video of the crashes with us, is used to seeing.
"His back doors came off. The side came off. He lost his load over there under the bridge, and then backed up. How does he know that there isn't a vehicle under his doors? It's dangerous. It is dangerous for everyone involved. Now, the cabs never get injured," Ward said. "It's a lot, and it's nerve-racking on top of that, when they get, you know, they're not doing much damage except for the vehicle, but it's loud.
"And, what if someone, I watched one of them one day, he hit this bridge on this side, and he backed up. There was a car behind him. He pushed a lady down the road. I had to come out yelling at him to get him to stop, stop, stop because he started pushing her back down the road."
The drivers were issued summons.