Truck vs. Bridge: 53-Foot Truck Gets Stuck Under Purchase Street Bridge

A 53-foot trailer headed to New Jersey got stuck underneath the Purchase Street bridge Monday afternoon.

The accident, which occurred around 1 p.m., shut down one lane of traffic on Purchase Street in the direction of downtown Rye for more than one hour.

The truck, which belongs to California-based Axel and Family Express Inc., was empty and headed to Pine Brook, NJ to pick up a load of dry packaged goods, the driver said.

The 42-year-old driver, who declined to give his name, said he did not see the sign located near the entrance of the bridge that said clearance was 10"7'.

The truck, which was 13" 6' tall, only made it about a quarter of the way under the bridge before the roof of its front trailer became lodged under the bridge's tracks.

The driver, who said he has worked for Axel and Family Express for two years, said he exited off the highway into Rye because his GPS led him in that direction. 

He said he was trying to get onto Interstate 287 and was unsure his truck was headed the right way, but decided to follow the instructions of his GPS.

As Metro-North and Amtrak trains rolled by overhead, the truck was stuck for more than an hour underneath the bridge. The accident did not affect commuter trains that cross the Purchase Street bridge to transport passengers in and out of the Rye Metro-North station.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) police arrived on the scene and an MTA official surveyed the bridge and took pictures of the accident, but declined to comment. A Rye police officer at the scene also declined to comment on the incident.

Police closed one direction of traffic on Purchase Street as they waited for a towing company to remove the truck.

Hannigan Towing, a company based in Port Chester, used chains to tie the 53-foot trailer to the back of its truck, slowly pulling the trailer from under the bridge.

The roof of the truck suffered some damage, while the bed of the trailer had a gaping hole in its front.

Jose Lopez, a towing supervisor for Hannigan, said it's not unusual for trucks to get stuck underneath the Purchase Street bridge.

"We've removed five or six trucks in the last couple of months," Lopez said. Lopez said it typically takes anywhere from 15 minutes to three hours to remove the trucks.

Lopez said the driver was lucky the incident didn't occur on the North Main Street Bridge in Port Chester, because drivers there are usually arrested and have their trucks impounded.

"A lot of times these drivers hit bridges and they don't come back," he said.

The truck driver said the owner of Axel and Family Express was already considering closing his business because the company was not getting paid as much for transporting loads.

He said the incident may cause him to lose his job.

The driver had to pay Hannigan Towing more than $483 or his truck would have been impounded.

Though a wayward GPS mistakenly led the driver into Rye, he'll have to come back next month—for a court appearance on February 10 courtesy of the MTA police.