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Gregson Street Guillotine

Durham County, North Carolina
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Video 

Example Truck Crash

Today (8/3/11) this boxtruck smashed into the Gregson St trestle and got wedged under the bridge. They deflated the tires and one of Big John's towing trucks pulled the box truck out. Later, Norfolk Southern sent a crew over to inspect the trestle and the crash beam. Sorry - only one angle ... the other camera was not working.

Copyright Jürgen Henn - 11foot8.com

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Map 

Street View 

Description 

This simple steel stringer bridge provides 11' 8" of clearance and has been hit by trucks so many times it has a special headache bar to protect it. It has spawned a website run by someone who keeps a camera trained on the bridge to capture the truck carnage. This bridge is a case study for how many truck drivers are not qualified to operate their vehicle. Familiarity with a truck's weight and height is absolutely essential at all times of operation.

View Uglybridges.com report

Facts 

Overview
Steel stringer bridge over NC-1327 (Gregson Street) on Southern Railroad
Location
Durham, Durham County, North Carolina
Status
Open to traffic
History
Built 1940
Design
Steel stringer
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 30.8 ft.
Total length: 91.9 ft.
Approximate latitude, longitude
+35.99907, -78.91013   (decimal degrees)
35°59'57" N, 78°54'36" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
17/688370/3985865 (zone/easting/northing)
USGS topographic map
Northwest Durham
Inventory numbers
NC 630068 (North Carolina bridge number)
BH 50197 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Average daily traffic (as of 2007)
11,000

Categories 

"Truck-Eating" (11)
Beam (6,056)
Built 1940 (689)
Built during 1940s (2,798)
Durham County, North Carolina (2)
Durham, North Carolina (1)
Have street view (9,908)
Norfolk Southern Railway (453)
 North Carolina (305)
Open (28,319)
Owned by railroad (4,052)
Railroad (4,084)
Southern Railway (39)
Span length 25-50 feet (10,056)
Steel stringer (2,331)
Total length 75-100 feet (4,795)

Update Log 

  • April 12, 2013: Updated by Luke Harden: Added category ""Truck-Eating""
  • November 14, 2011: Added by Nathan Holth

Sources 

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Comments 

Gregson Street Guillotine
Posted November 14, 2011, by Nathan Holth (form3 [at] historicbridges [dot] org)

mmmmmm.... truuuucks...

Uploaded file: PNG image, 239 x 391, 8-bit/color RGBA, non-interlaced, 51466 bytes

Gregson Street Guillotine
Posted November 14, 2011, by Luke Harden (lmharden [at] iastate [dot] edu)

lol forgot to log in

Gregson Street Guillotine
Posted November 14, 2011, by Anonymous

There is a stringer bridge on the approach to the Government Bridge in Davenport, Iowa that is also known for the same stuff and has also become known rather infamously as "The Truck Eating Bridge."

Gregson Street Guillotine
Posted November 14, 2011, by Nathan Holth (form3 [at] historicbridges [dot] org)

OK, I realize 1940 stringer isn't the most significant bridge, but you have to admire the humor of this.

http://www.11foot8.com/