Radnor Township believes new warning system will prevent bridge strikes
RADNOR, Pa. (CBS) - A community in Delaware County has found a solution to a decades-old problem.
A new warning system has been installed to let drivers know if their truck is too tall to fit under the Amtrak-owned bridge on King of Prussia Road near Radnor Way, where the clearance is 10 feet, 10 inches.
Between 2012 and 2024, there have been 140 documented bridge strikes, according to Superintendent Christopher Flanagan of the Radnor Township Police Department.
"People are following their GPS," Flanagan said. "They're in a trance. They're not paying attention and not staying alert when driving."
The police superintendent said the bridge strikes have been a public safety issue.
"We've had people struck," he said. "We had a backhoe overturned underneath the knuckle of the boom, hit and almost killed a family."
The warning system consists of two dangling metal signs, one on each side of the bridge. If a truck hits the sign, it will alert the drive to stop and turn around.
So far, it appears to be working. Already three trucks have hit the sign, but the bridge was not struck.
"The cost of the project was a little over $150,000," Maggie Myers, president of the Board of Commissioners of Radnor Township, said. "But most of the money actually came from the state."
When trucks get stuck under the bridge, it backs up traffic for hours, meaning deliveries can't get through to local businesses like Euro Coachworks, an auto body shop on Belrose Lane.
"The paint, sandpaper, buffing pads, detail products, whatever we need to complete the car, they can't get here," Euro Coachworks owner Jamie Cummings said. "We've been here since 2017 and there's been quite a few accidents at that bridge. So this new system would be great and welcomed to alleviate and avoid any of those accidents that come."