KAUKAUNA, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – An Outagamie County overpass will remain closed indefinitely.
A dump truck struck the Rosehill Road overpass near Kaukauna Wednesday morning, causing damage to the bridge.
The dump truck that hit the overpass was traveling southbound along Highway 41 around 11 a.m.
Officials say the box of the dump truck was raising up as it was driving. The driver didn’t notice and struck the overpass.
At Fox Valley Technical College, truck driving instructors say students talk about height and obstacles.
“We have to make sure that we are at the proper height – that’s the responsibility that we have as drivers,” said Rob Behnke, director of truck driving at Fox Valley Technical College. “Typically, with a commercial vehicle, 13 feet, six inches is a typical height for most commercial vehicles. Dump trucks can vary.”
Wisconsin Department of Transportation officials say with the back of the dump truck sticking straight up, it likely wouldn’t have cleared that or any overpass.
“In the upright position, depending on how far up it went, you know, fully upright, they could be about 17 feet tall, so that’s gonna hit a majority of bridges along interstate 41,” said Traffic Engineer Rod Hamilton.
The incident had Highway 41 closed for over five and a half hours.
Bridge engineers continue to assess the damage.
“What we’re aware of right now is that when the dump truck box hit the overpass, they hit the first southbound beam that you can see, and then damaged a few of the other beams,” said Hamilton.
The DOT is still working to determine what, if any changes, need to be made to the overpass. It hopes to have an answer within a week.
“Right now, we’ve got a group of our structural engineers, project managers,” explained Hamilton. “And then our interstate 41 design team looking at an intermediate kind of fix, at this point.”
While the DOT says this is the second time this summer this exact overpass has been hit, initial findings show that the height of the overpass meets standard guidelines and is safe for vehicles traveling on 41.
But there could be ways to prevent this, like alerting a driver when a box is being raised with an alarm.
“It’s a technology that the company would have to invest in, right. I don’t know if this particular company had that technology,” said Hamilton. “Could it help prevent? Yes. Has it? I’m sure it has in the past.”
The state patrol is handling the crash investigation.
When we reached out to them yesterday, they said they didn’t know if the driver was hurt and have not determined yet if there will be any enforcement action.
