Hoe Excavator meets the Overpass

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Silas Marner Power-User Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: In my house, at the loom. Posts: 197 Good Answers: 3	Hoe Excavator meets the Overpass 06/12/2006 1:20 PM
	Ever wonder what it would happen if an 8 ton excavator hoe rammed into an overpass? Well, wonder no more! Just how daft do you have to be to think the arm would fit under the bridge? The article does pose two interesting, if largely irrelevant questions. Anyone care to discuss? 1) When the shovel arm hits the overpass, how fast do you have to be going to slice the bridge in half? (Assume no effect for headwind and no braking by the driver.) 2) Solve for the time and distance required for the entire rig to come to a complete stop after hitting the overpass at the speed calculated above. __________________ The yoke a man creates for himself by wrong-doing will breed hate in the kindliest nature . . .
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BRodda The Feature Creep Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 990	#1 Boston 06/12/2006 1:34 PM
	In Boston you could always tell when the new students were coming to town from the number of moving trucks stuck under the bridges. 2 of the major thoroughfares, Memorial and Starrow Drives, have have insufficient clearance and big signs saying "Do not take trucks down here". Still people rip the tops off the trucks and snarl traffic every year to the point that its a joke. __________________ "The future is here. It's just not widely distributed yet." -William Gibson
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Anonymous Hero Guru Join Date: May 2006 Location: The 'Space Coast', USA Posts: 11119 Good Answers: 918	#2 Difficult to Calculate 06/12/2006 2:21 PM
	It looks like the boom was facing forward and actually punctured through the bottom of the bridge rather than cut its way through like a shark fin. I think that when it first contacted the bridge the boom pushed up and then back like a switchblade unfolding. Glad I wasn't crossing that bridge!
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JohnDG Guru Join Date: May 2006 Location: Reading, Berkshire, UK. Going under cover. Posts: 9684 Good Answers: 468	#3 In reply to #2 Re:Difficult to Calculate 06/12/2006 6:14 PM
	I'll go with that - there's no sign of an 'entry wound' anywhere near the top of the bridge. I'm also glad I have nothing to do with the driver's company, or their insurers. It's times like this I wish maybe I'd gone into Law (£$£$£$). __________________ "Love justice, you who rule the world" - Dante Alighieri
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Ried Guru Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 1602 Good Answers: 19	#4 In reply to #2 Re:Difficult to Calculate 06/12/2006 10:27 PM
	Interesting observation on "entry wound". I originally guessed a speed of 90-100 mph to completely sever the bridge based on an assumption that the truck would have been traveling on the order of 60-70 mph on the interstate. __________________ Eventually, one needs to realize that it is far less important to be the smartest person in the room than it is to sit next to that person and make friends.
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Paddy O'Flanigan Power-User Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 255 Good Answers: 2	#5 Excavator meets Overpass 06/13/2006 9:48 AM
	We had a similar "meeting" near my home a few years ago, though much more embarrassing for the operator of a dump truck who apparently forgot to lower his dump box before hitting a railroad overpass at 50 mph. The truck, bridge and the driver's career at that particular company were all totaled.
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CCT Participant Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 2	#6 Look on the bright side... 06/13/2006 11:04 AM
	Whoever made the chains that secured the excavator to the trailer has a couple of great pictures for their sales brochure. Trying to plow an inverted furrow into reinforced concrete at 70+ mph with a trackhoe makes popping a .30-06 round into a padlock look like amateur hour in the dramatic marketing department.
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whats news Associate Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: the hand state,,, Michigan,,USA Posts: 53	#7 what a bummer 06/16/2006 8:03 AM
	looks like its going to be a very costly ops,, and the people that "were" using the bridge are going to be mad, wait a yr to get the bridge done, and wham, its no more, im betting the state made it unusable, and had to replace it, all the reinforcements in the decking? big, BIG, bucks for the poor driver, guess when the bridge states the max height, you should know what your loads heights at!! feel sorry for the driver,made his/her day in a moment,,
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