This sign was installed two weeks ago at Front and Chestnut streets.
Two weeks ago, Harrisburg touted a new solution to a very old problem.
It announced that, along with PennDOT, it had erected two new signs warning high-profile vehicles away from the low-clearance rail bridge on Front Street.
The city hoped the signs would help solve what TheBurg has called “The Big Crunch,” trucks getting stuck beneath the bridge at the dip in Shipoke.
So, what happened next?
Crunch, crunch and crunch.
To maybe no one’s surprise (certainly not to our readers), the signs–and the associated threat of a fine–have not worked. Since then, several semis have gotten wedged beneath the bridge, which, in turn, has snarled traffic and caused the city to waste valuable police and fire resources unsticking the stuck trucks.
To me, this “solution” was right on-brand for PennDOT. Faced with big traffic and safety problems on its state-owned roads in Harrisburg, the state agency typically punts, drags its feet or does as little as possible.
The stuck truck problem is not unique to Harrisburg. Many older cities, in particular, are faced with this issue and some have implemented robust responses to it.
Flashing lights, rumble strips, infrared sensors and lasers have all been tried with some success. Some of our readers have suggested hanging plastic strips above the road before the bridge at clearance level, an effective, if not particularly elegant, solution.
Well, PennDOT is staffed with transportation professionals—they should know better than I, right?
I’m certain that they do, but, unfortunately, in Harrisburg, action usually comes little and late. A few years ago, I suggested numerous ways to slow down traffic flying off the Harvey Taylor Bridge to reduce the ridiculous rate of serious crashes at the light at Front Street. So far—nada.
Less than two weeks in, the sign experiment has failed already. This meek response hasn’t stopped the problem of trucks crashing into or getting lodged beneath the Shipoke rail bridge. So, I ask, PennDOT, what comes next?
Lawrance Binda is co-publisher and editor-in-chief of TheBurg.
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