Weston makes a surprise entrance into the Storrowing Olympics

By adamg on Mon, 02/14/2022 - 12:06pm

The Weston Fire Department reports that Park Road was shut this morning after a truck driver engaged in a battle of wits with a train bridge and lost.

Topics:

Driving

Free tagging:

Weston

Storrowed

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Comments

"CAREFUL RELIABLE SERVICE"

By Wiffleball on Mon, 02/14/2022 - 12:13pm.

Nice.

It’s James E Larkin Movers

By Kinopio on Mon, 02/14/2022 - 3:43pm.

It’s James E Larkin Movers for anyone curious about what company to avoid.

But

By MostlyHarmless on Mon, 02/14/2022 - 12:17pm.

Was the bridge wearing a helmet?

in its defense

By anon on Mon, 02/14/2022 - 1:07pm.

it does seem it was wearing a couple of hi-vis vests.

even so, if you're a bridge in massachusetts, you gotta understand..

Magoo sez

By MisterMagooForYou on Mon, 02/14/2022 - 12:19pm.

Adorable. Magoo.

Nope, challenge flag on the play.

By MrZip on Mon, 02/14/2022 - 1:10pm.

As a long-time Elmer fan, I'm gonna suggest that "adorable" be retired. Or at least, reserve it for animals that ARE adorable and rarely used ironically and then, only for stupid or especially nasty criminals. I think this has been suggested before but the hint was not taken.

Adorable

By John Costello on Mon, 02/14/2022 - 1:17pm.

Right on Magoo.

It is adorable because it shows how adorable some people are at not understanding physics.

I'm still of the mind

By BostonDog on Mon, 02/14/2022 - 1:19pm.

Magoo is Elmer.

What an awful thought.

By Lee on Mon, 02/14/2022 - 2:10pm.

Stuff of nightmares.

It actually makes Magoo more enjoyable

By BostonDog on Mon, 02/14/2022 - 2:21pm.

Early in his "tenure" he said he was Elmer. They both are old man cartoon characters and there are some similarities to their posts.

Others have said Elmer gone, both from UHub and this world. I hope that isn't true and the person who used to post as Elmer decided to find a new character.

I used to find Magoo annoying but I've come to actually enjoy his persona. It sure beats the other trolls, some of whom should be shown the virtual door.

no

By anon on Mon, 02/14/2022 - 3:17pm.

The well-known Elmer did not post as Elmer Fudd, but a normal person with, as I remember it, relevant and articulated thoughts related to the subject at hand.

The Magoo "character" adds nothing and just seems to be a series of poorly-thought out grasps at attention by someone who doesn't have much better to do.

me too

By scollaysq on Tue, 02/15/2022 - 11:30am.

I have voiced these suspicions myself.

As a long time Uhub fan-

By anon on Mon, 02/14/2022 - 1:33pm.

As a long-time Elmer fan, I'm gonna suggest that "adorable" be retired

As a long time Uhub fan, I'm gonna suggest that Magoo be retired.

I’m okay with a compromise.

By Lee on Mon, 02/14/2022 - 2:14pm.

He sticks to Elmer talk and he stays.

Otherwise, mandatory retirement.

That number is very hard to

By Russ on Mon, 02/14/2022 - 12:22pm.

That number is very hard to see from down the street. As a truck driver, fewer things get me more upset on the job than signs that just say "low bridge", without a specific number. That truck, though, looks to be much taller than 11' 3".

It's not even close

By mg on Mon, 02/14/2022 - 1:25pm.

That truck is of a size where any sign saying "low" should be a warning, regardless of the number. If nothing else, slow down on approach and have a sense how much clearance you need.

But placing the number on the sign

By roadman on Mon, 02/14/2022 - 3:04pm.

removes any ambiguity as to what the actual clearance is. Especially when commercial drivers routinely pass "low clearance" signs for overpasses that are taller than the max legal height for trucks.

Plenty of other signs have the clearance on them

By Ron Newman on Mon, 02/14/2022 - 3:38pm.

See other comments to this post, or just 'drive' it yourself via Google Maps. If the driver didn't see any of the other signs over the last half mile or so, why would he pay any more attention to one on the bridge structure itself?

In both directions, there is a yellow diamond 11'3" sign on the right side of the road, directly before the bridge. As well as others, further back from this location.

There's a sign before Recreation Road

By Waquiot on Mon, 02/14/2022 - 2:28pm.

Certainly a driver could see this before getting to the bridge.

Truck was going southbound

By Ron Newman on Mon, 02/14/2022 - 3:21pm.

based on the location of the power lines in this photo. However, there's an 11'3" warning sign facing that way, too. And another one, a bit further north. And yet another.

My bad

By Waquiot on Mon, 02/14/2022 - 5:09pm.

I couldn't quite figure out the direction, and northbound appeared to have the relatively worse signage.

My pet peeve

By chaosjake on Mon, 02/14/2022 - 3:46pm.

So a few months ago, I was up in New Hampshire for a relay race that involves teams of people getting shuttled around in vans (Reach the Beach, for those in the know). I'm driving a rented Ford Transit with the fancy raised roof, so passengers can stand up to move around, and we have a clearance of 9' 0". An unnamed tourist town doesn't like the van traffic, so they require all teams to go on a long bypass out of town. I used to drive a moving truck, so I'm very cognizant of low clearance signs, and I'm getting more and more worried as I pass signs that say "covered bridge ahead, low clearance" with no actual clearance stated. Finally, after driving 6.5 miles out the bypass road, with my copilot frantically googling for clearance info and finding none, we get to the covered bridge that has a clearance of 7' 6". Now we have to backtrack 6.5 miles AND worry about getting disqualified for driving our race van through the town that hates race vans.

TLDR: If you're going to have low clearance miles down a road with no other way out, put the actual clearance on the sign!!!

Not an issue at this particular bridge

By Ron Newman on Mon, 02/14/2022 - 3:54pm.

See other comments linking to Street Views

People always used to

By chaosjake on Mon, 02/14/2022 - 4:07pm.

People always used to question whether there was appropriate signage at the East Street bridge in Islington, which I know from driving through there frequently, there definitely is.

I'm just mad at this specific town in New Hampshire for being incompetent.

Advance signage check:

By anon on Mon, 02/14/2022 - 5:42pm.

Advance signage check:

Southbound:
Route 30: nothing https://goo.gl/maps/ahhfLT1wXPxNReQG9 https://goo.gl/maps/cmCxBPZanW2t8K7R6
Pike West offramp: nothing https://goo.gl/maps/eisU7AY33X6jAfyh9
Last turnoff: nothing at the intersection itself, nonstandard sign a block ahead https://goo.gl/maps/zoynpzpAtBiR5GY47
Once it's too late to do anything but stop: standard signage https://goo.gl/maps/KWXbeiFpnxjKdtjE9

Northbound:
Route 16: nothing https://goo.gl/maps/ipLrB2Ard31jBNyM7 https://goo.gl/maps/M1xnrLGA6Gh8bKuv8
Last turnoff: Nothing before the turn. Standard 11'3 sign right at the bridge itself, which is just after the turnoff. https://goo.gl/maps/jyURKR2GUrD4tfNh9

There's a simple answer to this

By necturus on Mon, 02/14/2022 - 1:15pm.

Lower the road surface by digging down five feet from where it is now. The bridge will then be 16.3 feet above the road surface instead of 11.3 feet. Problem solved!

It's Weston, the richest town in the Commonwealth. Spend a little money and fix the damned problem before something comes along and takes out the bridge.

Are you kidding?

By ElizaLeila on Mon, 02/14/2022 - 1:53pm.

Weston's not going to spend any money to do that!

Besides, first they'd have to lower any utilities in that road. Which means getting all of them in the same room to buy into it. And to try to get them to pay for their share.

6 feet?

By Russ on Mon, 02/14/2022 - 2:46pm.

That's what they did at the one in Westwood, but 6 feet is way too much. Half that would mostly solve the problem.

Not to mention

By Tim Mc. on Mon, 02/14/2022 - 3:23pm.

the resulting drainage issues.

Also requires coordination with the MBTA to stop train service

By Ron Newman on Mon, 02/14/2022 - 3:47pm.

since I don't think you want trains running over this while they are digging out under it.

It's not unprecedented, though. I recall a railroad underpass being lowered in Dedham or Westwood a few years ago, where too many trucks were getting stuck.