Safety device at ‘truck-eating’ KC bridge knocked down. That’s how it works, city says
On Friday, Kansas City unveiled a new solution to Independence Avenue’s low-clearance bridge problem: hanging “curtains” designed to warn oncoming trucks that they are too tall to fit underneath.
The “truck-eating bridge” has long been the subject of study in the Historic Northeast, while also gaining online notoriety in the form of Internet memes and dedicated social media accounts.
Less than a week later, residents took to social media to share photos of one of those curtains lying on the side of the road. Another can be seen still hanging, but with multiple rods bent out of position.
But city officials, including Mayor Quinton Lucas, say that the curtains are working exactly as planned.
“Did you see a truck stuck under the bridge after you drove through?” Lucas asked a resident who posted photos of the fallen curtains on X, formerly known as Twitter. “You didn’t. This means it worked.”
City spokesperson Courtney Stephens said that the curtains have saved “at least three trucks” since being erected last week after years of planning around how to address its appetite for unsuspecting trucks.
“It is designed as a break away system. If a truck contacts the curtain with enough force, it breaks off to avoid tearing down the structure,” she said. “Staff recovered one of the two sections that dislodged and (are) currently working with the contractor to reattach the curtain within the next day.”
Stephens added that the “curtains” are designed to be reattached to the beam above them with clips, and that the city’s initial purchase of this equipment included spare parts to repair the curtains themselves if they become damaged.
While warning “curtains” in other cities can act like large wind chimes to alert truck drivers of the low clearance ahead, Kansas City’s seem to be a little different: The vertical rods of the curtain are fixed in place along a metal strip, which is hung from a more permanent beam above the road.
Stephens said that the cost of repairing and re-hanging the curtains will be funded by the city’s Public Works budget moving forward, and that no major modifications to the device are planned.
“During budget planning each fiscal year, consideration of the maintenance of the warning system will be included,” she said. “The current warning system is a permanent structure and is designed to do exactly what it accomplished.”
Do you have more questions about infrastructure in Kansas City? Ask the Service Journalism team at kcq@kcstar.com.
This story was originally published February 8, 2024 at 5:01 PM.
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