John McCann
/ photo; Jim Kenyon
LIVERPOOL -- John McCann shakes his head every time he hears of a truck slamming into the railroad bridge on the Onondaga Lake Parkway.
"There's no excuse," McCann told CNY Central's Jim Kenyon.
McCann trains professional truck drivers for the National Tractor Trailer School in Liverpool. He points out that truck drivers are trained to know the height of their vehicle and whether it would fit under a bridge. He says the standard height for a tractor trailer is 13 feet 6 inches, and bridges with a clearance of less than 14 feet are usually marked with warning signs.
McCann points out there are a dozen warning signs approaching the Parkway bridge, with its 10 feet 9 inch clearance. "It is so clearly marked," McCann says, that there's no way a professional driver could miss it.
Following yet another incident Wednesday in which a truck slammed into the bridge, and eight months after a Megabus crash killed four people, the State Transportation Department has announced it will install another warning device. This one would electronically detect a truck approaching the bridge and then set off a series of lights and possibly a horn.
McCann wonders if such a device is necessary. In addition to all the training a driver needs to obtain a license, McCann showed Kenyon the Rand McNally Motor Carriers Road Atlas. The atlas lists every low clearance, restricted route and weight restriction in the nation.
McCann says the atlas should be in the cab of every truck and consulted whenever a driver goes on the road. "You have to be aware of all your surroundings."
Of the 125 low clearances listed in New York State, only overpasses are lower than the bridge on the Onondaga Lake Parkway.
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