SQUEEZE PLAY
FOR UMPTEENTH TIME, BIG RIG GETS WEDGED IN 420 UNDERPASS
PROSPECT PARK >> A tractor trailer wedged under the underpass of the Amtrak line on Northbound
420 in Prospect Park blocked up the street for the better part of the day Tuesday.
Prospect Park Police Chief David Madonna said the driver of the tractor hit a yellow I-beam connected to the underpass at 5:06 a.m. as he tried to barrel through the 12-foot, six-inch clearance area. The I-beam took the brunt of the damage and trains were able to continue using the bridge. Madonna said the I-beam is attached to a sort of wall that protects the four lines of Amtrak and SEPTA rail traffic from getting damaged.
As of 1 p.m., the road was cut off to traffic between 12th and Maryland avenues.
“He must have gone at a pretty decent speed to completely dislodge the Ibeam from the wall,” Madonna said Tuesday afternoon. He said a large chunk of the wall, perhaps
4 square feet, fell down on a pedestrian walkway. Crews from the borough, PennDOT and Amtrak were working through the morning and afternoon to keep traffic and pedestrians away from the area. A crane was brought in to remove the truck.
“The I-beam has to come down. If we pulled the truck out before securing the beam it would have been very dangerous,” said Madonna.
An Amtrak spokeswoman said service was not disrupted on the line, but could not confirm any specifications about the condition of the damaged I-beam.
Madonna expects the driver, who was making a delivery to Springfield, to receive some kind of citation for the one-vehicle accident. “He’s on the hook for something because he’s clearly driving at a decent speed. He not only took the I-beam off, he wedged himself under the bridge itself,” said Madonna. “There were no other conditions that something else was a factor. He bears culpability.”
An investigation is under way.
Established truck routes and alternative truck routes have been created by PennDOT for truck traffic along Route 420 to divert older infrastructure and low clearances from Ridley Township to the I-95 interchange in lower Prospect Park. Madonna said there is plenty of signage on 420 that tells truckers with high vehicles to find a different route because of the low clearance ahead.
Madonna did not say what time the road would happen, but asked motorists to heed his warning about using 420 for their rush-hour commute.
Placard’s on the truck indicated it was owned by Penske Truck Leasing and operated by a company called Ivy Acres out of Vineland, N.J.