Overweight Trucks Linked to Bridge Collapse

Caltrans permit writers routed at least six overweight trucks over a temporary bridge near Lompoc that collapsed last week, unaware that the road had weight restrictions or that a temporary structure was even in place, sources in the agency said Thursday.

The two-lane bridge on California 246 had been open for two weeks when it collapsed Oct. 21, just seconds after a legally permitted truck weighing more than twice the bridge’s capacity drove across. A California Department of Transportation spokeswoman told newspapers that Caltrans had inspected the bridge just hours before its collapse and found nothing wrong.

State Sen. Joe Dunn (D-Santa Ana), who has led a legislative inquiry into the agency’s troubled permitting office, said he believes Caltrans will be found responsible for the accident that occurred after the bridge failure.

The cause of the incident appears to be a communication breakdown between the Caltrans construction managers who oversee the bridge and the permit office responsible for safely routing oversized trucks on the state’s highways.

If officials overseeing the bridge knew of the restrictions, that information was never given to the permit office, which relies on updated reports on road conditions to make decisions, sources said.

According to the bridge’s New Jersey-based manufacturer, construction plans show that the structure could hold trucks weighing as much as 40 tons under ordinary circumstances. The truck that crossed the bridge just before it collapsed weighed at least twice that amount.

The bridge manufacturer, Acrow Corp. of America, said that heavier trucks could safely cross only if they traveled 5 mph or less, stayed to the center of the bridge and were the only vehicles on the 190-foot span at the time they crossed.

The California Highway Patrol determined that the driver had met the conditions of the permit and did not issue a citation.

Caltrans spokesman Jim Drago said Thursday that the agency had no comment on the incident and referred all calls to the state Department of Business, Transportation and Housing. Freda Radich, a spokeswoman for the agency, said the incident is under investigation.

The overweight truck that crossed just before the collapse was not the only heavy load to be routed across the temporary bridge, Caltrans sources said.

Permits issued for that route show that at least six trucks heavier than 40 tons had been allowed to use the route over two weeks, sources said. None of those permits included any special conditions for crossing, because permit writers weren’t made aware that a temporary bridge was in place, those sources said. High speeds, combined with heavy weights, produce great stress on a bridge, according to structural engineers.

The last of the trucks passed over the bridge Oct. 21 hauling a mammoth excavator and barely made it across. The driver, Jon Milby of Goleta-based D & J Trucking, was going close to the posted 55 mph speed limit because the Caltrans permit he was issued didn’t require that he slow down, according to his daughter, a company employee. Charlene Milby said her father felt the bridge shake and sway the second he pulled onto it.

A vehicle behind the truck dropped about 30 feet into a creek bed as the bridge swayed and buckled in what witnesses say resembled an inverted drawbridge. The driver was not seriously injured.

CHP officers at the scene say it was surprising no one was killed.

Dunn wants the Lompoc accident reviewed as part of an expanded inquiry into Caltrans permitting errors that will focus on accidents caused by trucks that are too wide or too heavy for roads on which they’ve been directed.

At least 33 times in 3 1/2 years, permit writers routing oversized trucks on the highways have sent too-tall trucks slamming into low-lying bridges, according to records.