It’s where large tractor trailers have become stuck.
Frederick, Md (KM) It’s an age-old problem in Frederick County: tractor trailers getting stuck under the railroad bridge that crosses Route 75 in Monrovia, That issue was brought up on Monday during the annual visit by the Maryland Department of Transportation.
Brett Simmons said signs have been posted north of the bridge reminding truckers their vehicles may not get through the bridge. “When a tractor trailer gets to that point, it cannot physically go under the bridge,” he said. “It’s not something that’s been taken away from the trucking industry. That bridge has been that height forever. Rt. 75, I do not believe it was intended to be a truck route.”
Councilman Steve McKay, who represents that area of the county, says there was one recent incident which tied up traffic for a long period of time. “It was just only a week or two ago that the road was shut down seven hours because of the bridge impact,” he says. “So I would really like the opportunity if we could sit down and thing about not the construction side of doing something like that, but take a fresh look of how we warn drivers.”
The bridge is owned by CSX Transportation.
Simmons says some truckers do pay attention to the signs, but tractor trailers continue to get stuck under that bridge. “Truck drivers say they’ve seen the signs but we thought they could make it; or they didn’t the signs. It’s damage to their trucks as well,”: he says.
A suggestion Simmons had was a $10,000 fine for truckers who travel through that section of Route 75, and get stuck under the bridge. “It’s not that I want, or anybody wants to fine a trucker $10,000. But my suggestion for that fine came about from truck drivers who said they will not travel roads if there’s a potential fine of that significance,” he says.
There have been some action taken, but McKay says there are still problems. “We have the turnarounds to resolve the issues faster and that’s very important. But we still have an issue,” he said.
Deputy Transportation Secretary Earl Lewis told the audience he would forward these concerns to the local Distinct Engineer for the State Highway Administration.
By Kevin McManus