The Maine state Department of Transportation is creating a system to warn truck drivers of a certain, low-hanging railroad trestle that has been nicknamed “can opener” for the sheer amount of tractor trailers the trestle has taken out.
The system is scheduled to be installed on the Water Street trestle in the spring of 2018.
The $45000 proposed system of sensors and lights is designed to detect when an approaching truck is too tall to clear the overpass.
If the sensor detects a vehicle that is too tall, a system of lights mounted in conjunction with warning signs will begin to flash as a warning to the driver as they approach the 12 foot 10 inch train track.
Police have been dispatched to the area regularly in recent years to aid truckers who have either gotten their rig stuck under the bridge, or who needed assistance to back up and avoid the trestle.
Since January of 2016, police officers have responded to 23 non-accident situations and three true accidents.
Deputy Police Chief Jared Mills says that there are “less [accidents] than there used to be,” but that officers still “go down there on a regular basis…… Anything is going to help.”
“Unfortunately, I think there are still a lot of GPS that take trucks there,” Mills continued, when “we ask the out-of-state truckers why they came that way…. they say ‘that’s where my GPS brought me.”
Officials hope the sensor triggered flashing lights will better warn truckers of the “can opener” overpass.