By Karen Blackledge
DANVILLE — Call it nightmare on Front Street.
A 100-ton, 150-foot-long oversized load got snagged at the entrance to the Danville-Riverside Bridge on Monday, closing it for six hours and causing major traffic headaches for travelers in both communities.
Meanwhile, a companion load cleared the bridge, but partially blocked a lane on Route 54 between Elysburg and Bear Gap when the rig carrying it blew its engine on a hill near All Saints Cemetery.
But that’s not all.
Police Chief Eric Gill said he understood more wide loads were expected to come through Danville today.
“We’re going to be talking to PennDOT,” he said.
Problems began about 10:40 a.m. when the rigs carrying a pair of General Electric windmill bases came off the Danville exit of Interstate 80 onto Route 54 because of construction on Interstate 81.
The windmill parts are being hauled from Toronto to West Virginia.
The first rig made it through Danville and across the bridge, but the second snagged a curb and hit a tree, which was later taken down. The accident blew a tire and damaged a rear axle on the trailer holding the windmill base.
The accident closed the bridge from 11:30 until 5:45 p.m., when the trailer, which was deemed unsafe to operate, was moved by a huge Zartman Construction crane to sit overnight on Front Street.
That part of the street was closed to traffic.
Police tried to head off some traffic problems by notifying Danville Area School District, Geisinger Medical Center and Cherokee Pharmaceuticals officials that the bridge was closed, but many drivers still were trapped in the mess.
“This is the oversized load capital of the world” said Al Henninger, of Riverside, who was stuck in traffic while trying to get home. “It’s got to stop.”
Gill said borough officials will charge the owners of the oversized load company for the hours he and his officers spent on the problem.
“There will be a hefty bill,” he said. “There are five of us here.”
Public works superintendent John Hack said the tree that was destroyed had been about 20 feet high
On the other hand, the company isn’t likely to receive any traffic citations. “There’s not much we could cite,” Gill said.
Permits are issued by PennDOT, which assisted with traffic control.
Melissa Damm of Rock Spring, Ga., who was driving a van following the load, said the company would have to get a new permit issued today to move on.
Oversized loads aren’t allowed to travel at night, Damm said.
The service, Kathy’s Pilot Car Service of Alma, Ill., is owned by her mother.
“We don’t usually get hung up. This is first time we got stuck with a load 150 feet long,” Damm said.
“The state tells us the roads we are allowed to drive on,” she said.
Danville police had heard that two to four more wide loads are scheduled to come into town.
“We probably have been escorting wide loads for a month steadily,” Cpl. Jonathan Swank said.
