Watch CBS News

Who pays for damage caused by over height trucks in Massachusetts?

Who pays for the damage when truck drivers hit overpasses in Massachusetts?
Who pays for the damage when truck drivers hit overpasses in Massachusetts? 03:23

BOSTON - It seems like it happens nearly every day, over height trucks hitting overpasses and getting stuck under bridges and in tunnels. Folks who live nearby where some of the crashes routinely happen say they can hear the tops ripping of the trucks.

One the worst crashes happened in July of 2021. A truck hauling a water clarifying tank hit the Roosevelt Circle overpass on Route 93 in Medford, bending one of the structural beams and splitting the other one in half. The damage was so serious, it forced the state to shut down a portion of I-93 South.

MassDOT Highway Administrator Jonathan Gulliver says these types of incidents have a ripple effect. "The amount of problems that it actually causes both to the traveling public who has to get stuck in those and to us when we have to fix those bridges is just huge," Gulliver told the I-Team.

The fix in this case required crews to remove parts of the bridge and decking. MassDOT estimated the cost of the damage at more than a million dollars.

Mary Connaughton, the director of finance and administration for the Pioneer Institute, a government watchdog group, tells the I-Team, "the state needs to have a better deterrent to keep this from happening in the first place."

Truck driver fined $210 for Medford crash

At the time of the crash, the Massachusetts State Police fined the driver, $210 for the over height truck, going off route and not having a flag car. Connaughton says it's frustrating to learn that the driver got off so easily.

tank.jpg
A truck carrying a water tank struck a bridge on I-93 in Medford in July, 2021. CBS Boston

State files lawsuit against transportation company

Records obtained by the I-Team shows the state has already spent nearly a half a million dollars to make emergency repairs. Meantime, the owner of the truck, Dove Transportation of Lincoln, Alabama, has not paid the state a dime.

Connaughton tells the I-Team, ultimately the taxpayers are on the hook to pay for the damage. "We hope the state goes after the drivers and their companies and their insurers to collect this money, but sometimes that could be a long time," Connaughton said. "In the meantime who's paying for it? you and I and the taxpayer."

After the I-Team started asking questions about the repairs, the state filed a lawsuit against Dove Transportation.

What can be done to prevent the crashes?   

So, what can be done to prevent these over height truck strikes? Gulliver says there's no silver bullet. "I don't think there is. It's education, it is using the right tools, the right apps and making sure that the right signage is out there to prevent people from actually coming down the wrong roads," Gulliver said.

Much of which MassDOT says is already in place, and sometimes ignored by truck drivers. Just last week an over height truck drove into the Sumner Tunnel in East Boston despite the signs warning it was too big. The state police fined that driver $50.

The I-Team asked Gulliver if the fines should be increased. "I think an argument could always be made that it should be more," Gulliver said. "There's a very big cost associated with these over height strikes."

The I-Team contacted Dove Transportation and its lawyers but did not hear back. In court filings, the company denied causing the damage.

View CBS News In
CBS News App
Chrome Safari
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.