Father in law called this afternoon and asked if we wanted to go see the mess before it's cleaned up. We canoe right through here. 30 ton semi+3 ton bridge=river closed. Most current article I can find says charges are pending against the driver, and they estimate cleanup to take 4-5 days before river is passable again. Estimated cost of replacement, $750,000-$900,000.

For those not familiar with the area, it's a 10-15 foot drop to the water. Pic taken from where the truck was when the bridge fell, looking across. Cleanup crew had just gone up to road level to put a new acetylene bottle on their cutting torch. You can just see the tracks of the crane on the far side.

i'm surprised he made it as far as he did across the bridge.

I was surprised too-at least there weren't any people under it in canoes at the time.

Quick, raise the gas taxes!

Should be a big fine I doubt the county will replace the bridge if they do it will be a few years

Wow, bold move, Cotton.

Hope they get it cleaned up quickly, we usually hit the UI several times in the summer. Going to be a major PITA for the locals to lose one of those bridges.

if you ignore the huge sign in big contrasting lettering, would anybody with two brain cells to rub together actually attempt crossing that bridge with anything bigger than a moped?  driving across that in a semi tractor would scare the piss out of me...

i suppose ol' skeeter didn't pay much attention to what was going on and grabbed another gear...

Story FIL is hearing is the county is going after the employer-employer's insurance might cover it, and then might sue the driver to get their money back. At this point, it's a bunch of locals talking so it might just be a bunch of wishful thinking.

You being a county worker(although a different county) you know better than us how it's likely to be handled.

It's cleaned up now. The river is open again for Canoeing and Kayaking.

Drivers like this are the reason we have the inbred ignorant stereotype. Guy should lose his CDL forever for that.