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Triphammer Bridge Repair Could Be a Year Away |
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by Dan Veaner
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Friday, 25 July 2008 |
Last month the Route 13 Triphammer Road overpass was hit by a truck, damaging I-beams that are part of the bridge's structure. Village of Lansing Mayor Donald Hartill said at Monday's village trustee meeting that it may be a year or more before the state repairs it. "I was in Chicago," Hartill said. "I got an email the bridge had been hit. It will be about a year before the state will get around to fixing it. It will probably involve tearing up the sidewalk, replacing that I-beam, and refurbishing whatever needs to be refurbished."
Hartill says that the truck was piled high with pylons used to make windmills. "They are off-loaded from ships onto these very elaborate trailers that can lower themselves down so that they just skim the road," Hartill explained. "Normally they take them up over the ramps. For some reason this turkey decided he could make it through. He apparently didn't slow down that much. The pilot car, which has a whip on it to monitor the height... apparently the whip wasn't tall enough or adjusted properly."
The truck came to an abrupt stop as it jammed into the understructure of the bridge. Hartill says the bridge is structurally sound, but driving lanes have been narrowed from 13 feet wide to about 10 feet wide, and you can see a damaged I-beam if you look up as you are traveling south under the bridge.
Evidently the location was unlucky, because only two days later Sherry Jones Traphagen, 27, of Freeville was killed near the same location. Driving northbound on the wrong side of Route 13 she collided with another car in the southbound lane.
Hartill says that repairs to the bridge could be costly. "If they tear the sidewalk off completely it has to be made ADA compliant, which is a big deal," he noted. "It's their buck, or on the trucking company's buck. It's a big enough damage that it will certainly go to court, and the state won't do anything until it's resolved."
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