Battered Span—

Road Closed To Traffic

After Concrete Falls From Railroad Bridge

By Andrew Gorosko

Hazardous conditions at a Botsford railroad bridge resulted in police closing a section of Botsford Hill Road to traffic for about 20 hours last week, posing travel problems for motorists who use the area, which links Sandy Hook to the Route 25 corridor.

Due to unsafe conditions posed by chunks of concrete falling down from the Housatonic Railroad’s low-clearance rail freight bridge onto Botsford Hill Road, police closed the roadway beneath the bridge from about 6:30 pm on November 1 until about 3 pm on November 2. The section of Botsford Hill Road that was closed to traffic extended between that road’s intersections with Swamp Road and High Bridge Road.

During the road closure, police posted patrol officers on either side of the bridge to keep motorists away.

About 6:30 pm on November 1, police received a call from a motorist on Botsford Hill Road reporting that “large pieces of concrete” had fallen down onto the road from the railroad overpass that crosses above it.

The falling concrete did not injure any motorists or damage any vehicles which had driven beneath the span, police said.

Police went to the rail bridge to investigate and then closed the road. Detours were created to route traffic around the problem area.

Several chunks of concrete had fallen onto the road from the eastern side of the bridge, police said.

Matthew Boardman, a civil engineer for the Housatonic Railroad, said that on the morning of November 1, he had inspected the railroad bridge for any safety issues following an accident that had occurred there on the evening of October 31.

Tall vehicles attempting to drive beneath the antiquated and battered low-clearance span often strike the bridge, damaging it. The railroad typically makes safety checks at the bridge following such accidents. The area is posted with signs stating that the bridge has an 11-foot, 6-inch clearance.

Mr Boardman said that the bridge inspection on the morning of November 1 indicated there to be no problems that would prevent Botsford Hill Road beneath the bridge from being used, so the road remained open to traffic.

On October 31 at about 5:14 pm, trucker Alvin York, 62, of West Peoria, Ill., was driving a 2001 International tractor-trailer truck hauling cargo on a flatbed trailer eastward on Botsford Hill Road, police said.

The flatbed trailer held two rows of crated all-terrain vehicles (ATV) stacked two high.

As Mr York was attempting to drive beneath the low-clearance bridge, the cargo smashed into the underside of the overpass, police said. Mr York then stopped the truck. The front crates on each row were damaged by the impact and had become lodged beneath the bridge, police said.

The collision bent a steel beam on the west side of the bridge located above the eastbound lane of Botsford Hill Road, police said. Police said Mr York told them that he had become lost and did not know the height of the cargo that he was hauling.

A local towing company came to scene and managed to dislodge the cargo that had become stuck beneath the bridge.

A representative of RER Motor City of Monroe went to the accident scene to inspect the damage to the cargo which was under shipment to that business, police said.

The cargo was restrapped onto the flatbed trailer and then driven away from the accident scene, police said.

On the morning of November 2, the Housatonic Railroad sent heavy equipment to the railroad bridge which it then used to remove a thick slab of reinforced concrete from atop the bridge. That concrete had been crumbling and falling onto the roadway below.

That concrete slab had served as a railroad passenger platform in the past, when passenger trains had passed through Botsford.

After the concrete was removed, the roadway beneath the rail bridge was reopened to traffic. The road’s reopening came before the start of the Friday evening rush.

Mr Boardman said that although the railroad bridge has been hit repeatedly by tall vehicles over the years, the steel beams that hold the train tracks above Botsford Hill Road are still structurally sound.

“The police department made the ‘right call’ in closing the [road to] traffic,” after the chunks of fallen concrete were spotted beneath the bridge, he said.

The railroad ships various cargo, including stone construction materials, on the trains that use the tracks atop the bridge.