'Clanker Balls' Provide A Unique Solution To Truck-Eating Bridge
Low bridges love to eat trucks that are too tall to go under them. Municipalities try to prevent it, but drivers keep ignoring warning signs. Newark, Delaware, has come up with a novel solution, which it calls "clanker balls," reports NBC 10 Philadelphia, that sound like an earth-shattering kaboom before the actual crash happens.
The clankers in question here are not AI or Trade Federation Battle Droids, but large red rubber balls suspended above the road. The idea is that vehicles too tall to fit under the bridge will hit these balls while they still have time to stop, avoiding a crash. Clanker balls are just one of several warnings Newark has put to good use, along with flashing lights, traditional clearance signs, and this rather non-traditional one.
According to a presentation by Delaware Department of Transportation's Deputy Director for Operations and Support Mark Luszcz, the original design was based on similar devices hanging below signs for New York City's Holland Tunnel. Those original devices, which look a bit like empty coffee cans, inspired the "clanker" name, based on the metallic sound they made as they bounced off vehicles. In this case, the large rubber balls used as a warning in front of this bridge are actually boat fenders, but the original clanker name has remained.
'Stop now or kaboom'
They say necessity is the mother of invention, and that's how the clanker balls came to be. Between 2006 and 2022, 78 vehicles crashed into the CSX railroad bridge over Casho Mill Road. The railroad company began petitioning the Delaware Department of Transportation to permanently close the road under the bridge so that traffic would stop hitting it. This is a major route through Newark, and closing it would have caused a significant traffic disruption.
Instead, the city and state worked together to throw every over-height traffic control device they could think of at the problem, traditional or otherwise. The clanker balls were installed in 2023, and for the first time since 2005, there were no bridge crashes on Casho Mill Road that year. This led Newark to add clanker balls around other low bridges in the city, most recently on Chapel Street. While they have reduced crashes elsewhere, they have not eliminated them. Despite the numerous warning lights and road signs, some drivers appear to be confused by the impact of the clankers, continue driving, and hit the bridge anyway.
Whether or not a truck that's too tall is going to collide with a bridge that's too low really comes down to the driver. For as long as I can remember, Boston's infamous Storrow Drive has had "Cars Only" signs intentionally hanging low enough to hit vehicles too tall to fit under the low bridges. Despite an upgrade in 2023, drivers continue to ignore the signs and hit bridges anyway, because Boston drivers are the absolute worst. But it doesn't just happen in Boston. Our friend, the 11-Foot-8 bridge, still gets hit regularly after an extensive and expensive "Plus 8" was added, raising it to 12 feet, four inches. If clanker balls and a sign that says "Stop now or kaboom" don't get people's attention, I don't know what will.