Botsford Railroad Bridge Struck Yet Again

By Andrew Gorosko

The section Botsford Hill Road near the Housatonic Railroad’s rail bridge reopened to traffic late on the morning of Friday, October 2, after work crews removed a heavily damaged section of the aging span that had been hit by the cargo carried in a heavy truck at about 1 pm the previous day.

As a safety measure, the section of Botsford Hill Road lying between its intersections with Swamp Road and High Bridge Road had been closed to through-traffic for about ten hours following the bridge accident.

Police had been positioned at both sides of the damaged span to detour motorists away from the area.

On the morning of October 2, workers cut away the section of the low-clearance bridge that had been damaged by the impact and carted away the debris, eliminating the possibility of a mangled steel beam falling onto the roadway below.

Police Officer William Hull, who investigated the accident, said that he had never seen such extensive damage to the railroad bridge caused by a traffic accident. The rusting span, which has a posted clearance of 11 feet, 5 inches, often has been hit by truckers whose vehicles are too tall to pass beneath it.

About 1 pm on October 1, a 1994 tri-axle Peterbilt heavy dump truck driven westward by Robert W. Kimball, 42, of Southbury was carrying a large steel device known as a “trench box” within the truck’s dumper body. The trench box was positioned vertically in the dumper body and protruded upward from it, well exceeding the clearance limit for the bridge.

When Kimball drove westward beneath the span, the trench box collided with eastern face of the bridge, heavily damaging the bridge and also damaging the truck. The trucker was able to back away from the damaged bridge.

Kimball was not injured in the crash, police said. Police issued Kimball an infraction for violating bridge-clearance regulations. That ticket carries a $146 fine.

After tall trucks smashed into the bridge in June 2007, and in September 2003, the area was closed to motor vehicle traffic for extended periods until bridge repairs could be made.

The portion of the bridge heavily damaged in the October 1 collision was the span’s section that formerly carried a second set of train tracks over Botsford Hill Road.

Repeated vehicular collisions with the bridge apparently created the physical conditions that allowed heavy damage to occur in the October 1 crash, according to Fred Hurley, town director of public works.

Although the approach to the bridge from southbound Botsford Hill Road is posted with low-clearance warning signs, truckers suddenly encounter the low span when they make a sharp blind turn to the right to head westward beneath the bridge.

The posted low-clearance span is clearly visible from the straight eastbound approach to the bridge.