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Oversized truck damages, closes Greene County bridge

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A bridge damaged by an oversized truck in Richhill Township has been closed for more than a week, and it’s causing concern for the residents who rely on it.

Day Road Bridge, which crosses Wheeling Creek near the West Virginia line, was damaged by a large vehicle July 9, according to Joe Szczur, the state Department of Transportation’s district executive for Southwest Pennsylvania.

“The damage to the bridge was such that we made a decision to close the bridge immediately,” he said. “It was a vehicle so large that it shouldn’t have been on the bridge in the first place. We’re very fortunate that it didn’t collapse the bridge.”

Joanne Crow, a Fry Hill Road resident, said that since Day Road is the only main road in that part of the township, the bridge is the only way for area residents to get around.

“There are about a dozen of us that live in this little community here,” she said.

Since the bridge has been closed, Crow said, they’ve had problems with mail delivery and at-home medical services. She said they may have to go to the nearest post office, in West Finley, to pick up their mail, since they’re much less accessible to carriers.

She also said her 7-year-old daughter receives in-home services for autism, but when the bridge closed, the provider canceled the service because it became too far of a drive.

Beth Day, a resident of Day Road, said the bridge closure created a 10-mile detour for residents. She is worried that should a police, fire or medical emergency arise, it will take first responders much longer to reach them.

“They would definitely have to go 10 miles out of their way just to get to where they’d need to be,” Day said.

Szczur said PennDOT notified municipal officials and emergency personnel about the bridge closure. He said they’ve conducted a damage analysis and developed a “repair scheme.” They hope to have repairs done and the bridge reopened in two weeks.

He said the same thing happened a few years ago, when an oversized truck crossed the bridge and caused even worse damage. At that time, he said, the bridge was signed for vehicles weighing no more than three tons.

Szczur said when PennDOT repaired it that time, it increased its structural integrity, bumping it up to a seven-ton weight limit. He said when repairs are made this time, officials will keep the seven-ton limit to maintain its historical significance as a petit truss bridge. He said signage will be increased to hopefully reduce the number of heavy trucks crossing it.

Day said her husband, Charles Day, runs a small excavating business, and he won’t take his trucks or heavy vehicles over the bridge. He’ll take the time and drive the extra miles, she said.

“But these big gas companies just don’t care,” she said. “These big trucks think they can go over this tiny bridge.”

State police are investigating the damage in an effort to find the driver and trucking company responsible, Szczur said.

“The police have a number of witnesses who saw what type of vehicle went over it,” he said. “People make silly decisions. Whoever went over this bridge made a ridiculous decision that could have ended much worse.”

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