M20 closed on such a busy weekend

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
lisa110rry

lisa110rry

Active Member
Joined
Jul 29, 2013
Messages
517
Location
Northwest England
Car
1999 SLK Kompressor and a Honda CRV (the latter gone but not forgotten)
The M20 is closed, apparently after a low loader carrying an excavator (I'm extrapolating here as the BBC's description is a bit woolly), which I imagine must have had a problem as it was travelling on the hard shoulder, struck a footbridge which promptly fell on a lorry. It would seem a motorcyclist may have thrown himself of his bike to avd collision. He is injured, but not life-threatening.

How does this affect 'smart motorways' I wonder? Will low loader and lorry drivers need to be retrained? Will they need to be made aware of going under bridges on the hard shoulder? Obviously, I'm only guessing what happened at this stage, but it puts me in mind of boaters on the Broads going under Potter Heigham bridge, which is curved. Yes, your air draft is lower than the middle of the bridge, but the curving sides will still collect you at 3mph. At 70 mph, you would collect the bridge!
 
Glad there are no serious injuries.

It just amazes me how long it takes to sort stuff out like this. Bit of explosives to blow it into bit size pieces. Couple of Chinooks to chopper it away and jobs a good un. Let them truckers roll 10 - 4.

(John sits back and waits for incoming)
 
Mrs M and Daughter No1 arrived 5 minutes after the impact. Sat and watched as the first fire engines and ambulances were blocked by idiots who decided to head off down the hard shoulder before blocking it completely. Other motorists (including Mrs M) then had to try and play Chinese Puzzles to try and and allow the emergency services through.

It seems that the bridge had scaffolding in situ. Not sure if the truck's cargo (a large digger) clobbered the scaffolding?
 
trapperjohn said:
Glad there are no serious injuries. It just amazes me how long it takes to sort stuff out like this. Bit of explosives to blow it into bit size pieces. Couple of Chinooks to chopper it away and jobs a good un. Let them truckers roll 10 - 4. (John sits back and waits for incoming)
Click to expand...

Sounds like a good idea John. Or a couple of oxy-ace torches and a combined effort by two chinooks? Really glad no one is badly injured.
 
That excavator looks remarkably intact.
Bit of a marketing opportunity for the manufacturers I would think.
 
Ted said:
That excavator looks remarkably intact.
Bit of a marketing opportunity for the manufacturers I would think.
Click to expand...

I am still confused by the reports that the excavator "hit the bridge" it had traveled under similar standard height motorway bridges before it reached this one. So what was different?
 
brucemillar said:
I am still confused by the reports that the excavator "hit the bridge" it had traveled under similar standard height motorway bridges before it reached this one. So what was different?
Click to expand...

It was traveling on the hard shoulder, I'd guess that on this occasion he got a bit too close to the supports at the far end.
 
trapperjohn said:
Glad there are no serious injuries.
Click to expand...
Not sure there are none - the condition of the motorcyclist is still not totally clear - but I take your point that it could have been massively worse.

If I were the driver of the truck on which the bridge section landed, I think I would have bought a lottery ticket for last night's draw. That was a very close shave. :crazy:
 
So, who pays for the clear up and repairs and what action will be taken against the idiot lorry driver?
 
Looking closely at the photos, it looks to me that the clearance under the bridge is less over the hard shoulder than over the running lanes, which could explain why he did not hit earlier bridges. Glad we were not heading up to daughter this weekend, we could have been rather too close to that accident!
 
Chrishazle said:
Looking closely at the photos, it looks to me that the clearance under the bridge is less over the hard shoulder than over the running lanes, which could explain why he did not hit earlier bridges. Glad we were not heading up to daughter this weekend, we could have been rather too close to that accident!
Click to expand...

If the height clearance on a hard shoulder is reduced, this incident was clearly the fault of poor bridge design. A solution would be to close the short section of hard shoulder with armco - but most importantly there needs to be an urgent survey of all motorway bridges in case a similar issue exists elsewhere.

A quick "street view" on Google shows one just south of Forton services on the M6 that certainly appears to curve substantially lower over the hard shoulder.
 
Chrishazle said:
Looking closely at the photos, it looks to me that the clearance under the bridge is less over the hard shoulder than over the running lanes, which could explain why he did not hit earlier bridges. Glad we were not heading up to daughter this weekend, we could have been rather too close to that accident!
Click to expand...
My son and his family were definitely too close to that accident. They were on their way home from their holiday and went under the bridge just as it was hit. Understandably looking behind them to see the bridge fall was a bit of a heart stopper.
 
I came back from France on the last shuttle last night and had to take a diversion to avoid this on the way home. I'm so glad I was travelling at that time (got there about 11.30pm) I should imagine it's added hours to some people's journeys today and yesterday in heavy traffic.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Back
Top Bottom