Oversized Load: Giant Windmill Tower Gets Stuck Under Loop 306

 

SAN ANGELO, TX — A driver of an oversized load carrying what appeared to be a post for a giant windmill for a windmill electricity generation farm made a bad decision at around noon on Wednesday.

Headed eastbound on the Loop 306 feeder road at Southwest Blvd., the driver attempted to execute a U-turn underneath the Loop 306 overpass of Southwest Blvd.  

WATCH: The oversized load gets unstuck.

The oversized load was too long and the truck couldn’t complete the U-turn without driving north off the roadway and into the front lawn of a business there. 

It did not appear the windmill part touched the Loop 306 overpass beams and traffic flowed unabated on the expressway while police, fire and rescue personnel helped the driver sort out his predicament.

With help directing traffic from the San Angelo police and Tom Green County Sheriff’s Deputies, the oversized load driver was able to back the load back where he initiated the turn.

The load had just inches of clearance underneath the overpass beams.

Weeks ago, another oversized load made contact with and damaged the beams underneath the Houston Harte Expy. at the Bell Street overpass. The overpass was reduced to one lane while the Texas Department of Transportation schedules crews to arrive and fix.
 

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Any driver with oversize load experience worth his salt would not have tried that underpass unless they knew absolutely that there was adequate clearance. He'll probably and should be fired.
The pilot car driver is almost as complicit as the driver and should be fired.

You dang straight, Cajun. Furthermore, why the heck are those windmill rigs on 306 to begin with? Surely there is an alternate route around Angelo for them to take. They are a traffic pain in the butt and annoying.

What man hasn't been in this situation before?

You enter with an air of overconfidence, experience the inability to pull out and subsequently drop your load.

Second one in a short time! TDOT and CITY needs to draw out routes for these oversized loads. Routes must include no use ( under/over) passes. Use of 2288 and 2105 and frontage roads. The contractors responsible for the movement of such loads must pay for all damages incurred, including permits. Maybe a deposit of at least $1000 up front. Lots of other things as well. If given a specific route to follow, no deviations allowed without prior approval.

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