A semitrailer trying to cross an historic iron bridge in the southern Indiana town of Paoli on Christmas Day – with a load six times the posted six-ton weight limit – collapsed the span into a creek.
Police said the woman driving the truck told them she didn’t know how many pounds six tons was, according to
Indiana Public Media.
Paoli Police Chief Randall Sanders told
WDRB-TV the truck was carrying thousands of bottles of water and weighed about 35 tons. Sanders said the driver will at least have to pay $135 for disregarding a posted sign, reported The Associated Press.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Department identified the driver as Mary Lambright, 23, and said she was aware of the weight limit but continued onto the bridge anyway, according to Indiana Public Media.
When Lambright started to drive across the bridge the trailer of the semi started ripping because it was taller than the bridge. As Lambright kept driving, the weight of the semi caused the bridge to collapse. Lambright and her 17-year-old cousin were able to get out of the semi unharmed.
Lambright received her Commercial Drivers License endorsement in May and works for Louisville Logistics. Police told Indiana Public Media she was cited for reckless operation of a tractor-trailer, disregarding a traffic control device and having an overweight semi on a posted bridge.
Signs posted on the road before the bridge said no trucks were allowed.
''As you can tell they went in way too fast ... clipped the top of the trailer ... ripped it back about a third of the way back," said Sanders.
Paoli's town council president, Michael Harkness, said the bridge over Lick Creek was built in 1880 and was "one of the few things left in Paoli that's historical."
Emergency responders spent hours unloading water bottles after the accident about 12:15 p.m. Friday. Workers then started cutting the bridge beams to free the truck.
Paoli is about 50 miles northwest of Louisville, Kentucky.
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