January 23rd - Heading into Birmingham on a dull, misty and early morning, I hit a queue of traffic along Blake Street which was unusual, Rounding the bend, I saw an articulated lorry with the top of it’s trailer crudely torn off - the effect of driving it under the low bridge now behind it.

The vehicle but have been going at a fair speed as the entire of the trailer’s roof was destroyed, and the HGV near clear of the railway over bridge.

There really is no excuse for this, and it’s fortunate nobody was injured. Any driver has to know the height of their rig and where the acceptable routes are. Trying to think of anything to mitigate this guy’s position I came up blank.

Perhaps the bridge should have been wearing more hi-vis...

This king of the road’s idiocy mate for a touch and go, very uncomfortable commute for me and anyone else who was on the Cross City Line. What’s so maddening is this is a fairly regular occurrence here.

The Bridge

My proposed changes will remove the current "OVERHEIGHT MUST TURN" LED sign and replace it with a "NO TRUCKS" sign, a "12FT 4IN" sign, and two flashing amber lights, which may either be activated at all times or only when a truck or overheight vehicle is approaching.

A "TRUCK ROUTE" sign will be added to point truck drivers towards the alternate route.

On the side streets, signs will be added to denote that trucks may not turn left or right towards the bridge.

Finally, the Type 3 Object Markers on either side of the road would be replaced. Currently, there is only one. On both sides of the bridge, there are old (and incorrect) object markers that have been covered up since 2007, with the newer ones having been bolted onto them. Please don't do that.

A block away

A block away, the changes are much more minimal, simply adding "NO TRUCKS AHEAD" signs.

Map

Under my proposed changes, The bridge will be completely closed to trucks. The route for all trucks will now follow the current alternative route for trucks.

While this is obviously not the ideal route, being so far away, it is the best option. There are few railroad crossings in the area, and the one closest to the bridge is on a one-way street going the wrong direction.

Conclusion

I spent way too long making sign designs for this random bridge in North Carolina. But, I did it for you, the American peoples, as well as all the other peoples. Is it peoples or peopli? I'm not that good at words.

For the purposes of my plan, it may have been better for the railroad to not have spent the $500,000 in 2019 to raise the bridge from 11'8" to 12'4", since it would've been more obvious to trucks that you shouldn't be going down there.

If the city of Durham, NC, somehow doesn't like my proposal, other solutions include:

- An "IF YOU HIT THIS SIGN YOU WILL HIT THAT BRIDGE" sign, an impressively low-tech solution

- Spending beeleeons (billions) of dollars to raise the railway enough so that the bridge will be 15' high