Yep. Your not raisin a railway bridge. You would have to adjust all the other bridges and crossings for miles. Assuming the railroad didnt actually fall over and die laffinf while stamping ypur proposal"denied" in multiple languages.
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This is sort of what they’ve done. 
It’s fun to ‘virtually drive’ under this bridge in Google StreetView - you can see that what the trucks are hitting isn’t the railroad bridge itself, but a heavily-braced steel I-beam about 10 ft. out in front of the bridge.
That way, the rilly, rilly solid trucks only damage the I-beam, not the bridge. 
(Also, you can try driving the approach, and see all the warning signs and the height sensor up the street. Fun with maps!)
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You’re intentionally misrepresenting my comment. I’m not saying there’s no solution. I’m saying the solution they have in place is already the best one that’s feasible. No one posts an article every time a driver notices the alerts and turns to avoid it. It’s just that it’s not foolproof, and adding one more similar notice won’t make it so. Because fools won’t pay attention to 1 more sign anymore than the 3 that were already there. Also the plastic tube would have to be at that stop light, because if you read the FAQ on the site trucks do need access to that block before it. So basically it’d be right at the other things they clearly aren’t paying attention to already.
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Absolutely! It really gives you a sense of just how inattentive the drivers have to be to hit the can opener. It’s much more visually instinctive than the webcam videos show.
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So many people think they can solve the problem, without even doing the research into the solutions that have already been put into place.
Even the trucks that hit the bridge when the light is green have to sit at a red light, staring straight at the blinking “OVERHEIGHT MUST TURN” sign for the whole light before proceeding into the Can Opener.
The only reasonable (though expensive!) option I’ve seen proposed here in the numerous Can Opener threads is the projection-waterfall. Though it seems like that would have its own problems (for instance, what happens when a convertible with it’s top down drives under the waterfall at the same time as an overheight truck?).
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Yeah, the near-complete lack of response on the part of the pedestrian is what really makes this great.
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There is a red light, the driver ignore it. Whatever you are doing to secure it will have no effect if nobody respect the traffic signage.
I’m impressed by the number of these truck drivers that ignore the red light and blast on through the intersection. If anything, they see the light turn to red and floor the pedal. I’m hoping the local authorities slap all these drivers with a major fine.
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Well, I guess technically it did fit.
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I feel like this bridge is increasingly a symbol of the human condition. Is it any wonder we can’t solve the world’s problems when as a species we’re too stupid to stop smashing into the same goddamn bridge over and over and over again?
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In all fairness, though there are several height-warning signs, there’s no effort to emphasize the unusually low nature of the underpass (like, “CAUTION: VERY Low Bridge” with maybe some caution flashers).
NC permits vehicles up to 13’6", with the caveat that property owners can’t be forced to modify anything with at least 12’ 6" clearance, so legal vehicles between 12’ 6" and 13’ 6" are liable for structural damage if they hit something over 12’ 6".
So if you’re over 12’6, always watch signs carefully!
And the messaging isn’t the clearest: OVERHEIGHT MUST TURN could leave a 12’ 2" truck owner thinking, “Well, I’m not ‘overheight’ - heck, I’m not even 12’ 6” ‘liability height’’, let alone >13’ 6" ‘overheight.’"
So I think there’s room for some simple but useful improvement here.
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There are two very clear " 11’ 8" " signs on either side, and they are visible for a long way off if you use the Bing Street View to take a look.
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As a former traffic signal guy I maintain that the sign is confusing. It should say “LOW BRIDGE. CHECK YOUR CLEARANCE”.
Better if it detects the height of incoming vehicles and directly warns them.
Yeah, turn before or after the bridge?
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Once the first laser triggers the red light if a truck is too tall, maybe a second mechanism could activate some spikes to pierce all the tires if the driver blasts thought the light. Added benefit, some close-call trucks might actually make it to the other side of the bridge. /s
Seriously though, isn’t updating the 100-year-old sewer main the best fix here? Like don’t those get updated eventually anyways?
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Spikes wouldn’t be so great if there was any other traffic on the street at the time. We don’t need any more potential collateral damage beyond the already-existing one of flying debris.
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I think adjusting the sewer lines to lower the road would be similarly problematic to trying to address the trestle bridge: dozens of blocks of sewer would have to be regraded as a result. It would cost hundreds of millions of dollars and cripple Brightleaf and downtown with construction for years.
EDIT: Not to mention the problems with regrading the roads themselves. All the Brightleaf buildings are historically protected and the whole area is very pedestrian-heavy. Lowering the road would have radiating effects on the other roads and also mean either regrading sidewalks and messing with the entrances to historic buildings (and possibly requiring reinforcements to foundations) or causing problems with pedestrian access to street crossings.
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It does. I agree that the wording is mildly confusing, but it lights up–and turns on a red light–only when the truck approaching the bridge is over height. Also from the FAQ:
Is the signage adequate?
The signage is good, and the vast majority of truck drivers notice the problem and avoid the bridge. Large signs alert driver to the low clearance several blocks before the bridge. Half a block before the trestle, a sensor detects overheight vehicles and triggers an LED blackout warning sign that was installed in May 2016. That same sensor also triggers a red-light phase at the traffic light directly in front of the trestle (installed in March 2016), so the driver has 50 seconds to read the warning sign next to the red traffic light and consider their next move.
Plus disturbing whatever is down there with the pipe. They used to coat with really toxic substances.
Possibly not that bad. Railroads can have a significantly greater grade than normal for situations like this where only a short section of the train would be on the grade. It might also be possible to redeisgn the bridge as a through girder bridge, but it looks like the girders are already shallow enough that wouldn’t make much difference.
Maybe he’s deaf?
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