I-88 Collapse at Carrs Creek: (Satellite)
This 385' (117m) long bridge has three spans of 125' (38m). [HistoricBridges]
But the river channel used to go all the way to the south abutment.
The thing that caught my eye in the description was "I-88." Did they run out of even numbers above 80 because Illinois also has an I-88. It is the East/West Tollroad. It was designated IL-5 when it was built. But then the speed limit was reduced to 55mph. Later, when they allowed higher speeds on Interstate highways, the route designation was changed from IL-5 to I-88 since it was built with Interstate highway standards.
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| Delaware County Historical Association, NY posted Today in Local History: June 27 - 29, 2006 - Serious flooding affects region. Up to 14 inches of rain falls in Susquehanna Valley. Sidney, NY is seriously damaged and truckers are killed on flooded Interstate 88. Photo shows a flooding Susquehanna River at Sidney. Margaret Dyer: I remember that, it shut down roads and businesses. Plus, I88 collapsed. [A collapse explains how trucks got wiped out. See some more comments at the bottom of these notes.] |
This 385' (117m) long bridge has three spans of 125' (38m). [HistoricBridges]
The sandbar and shrubs would have been under water.
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| Street View, Oct 2015 |
The south span is now normally over land.
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| HistoricBridges |
But the river channel used to go all the way to the south abutment.
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| BridgeHunter, 1942 image from a postcard "This is an excellent example of a state standard pony truss presented in a less-common multi-span configuration. Although the height was increased with a steel tube added, the original sidewalk railing itself also remains intact on this bridge." |
The thing that caught my eye in the description was "I-88." Did they run out of even numbers above 80 because Illinois also has an I-88. It is the East/West Tollroad. It was designated IL-5 when it was built. But then the speed limit was reduced to 55mph. Later, when they allowed higher speeds on Interstate highways, the route designation was changed from IL-5 to I-88 since it was built with Interstate highway standards.
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| Road Map |
I added the "wwPA" label to these notes because I think of the Susquehanna River as a Pennsylvania river. When I remembered this town was in NY, I checked out how the river flows through Pennsylvania. A quick look at a map confirmed that the river flows across the Allegheny Mountains. I followed the river on a satellite map to see how it got across the mountains. Then I found this map that shows the route. The red symbol in the upper-right corner marks Sidney. The river flows West, and then East and then back West before it goes South and Southeast through a little bit of Maryland into the top of the Chesapeake Bay.
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| LivingAtlas |
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| Glenn Skinner commented on the post at the top of these notes I remember it well, this was my BIG truck & rescued pets, pulled floating cars out of the streets and much more. My truck here has bird cages in cab & gentlemen & his dog in the back. |
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| Glenn Skinner commented on the post at the top of these notes This was Carrs creek where one of the trucker's boxes ended up. Mark Roberts: Glenn Skinner The tractor went under and out the outside. I remember seeing after they pulled it out, it looked like a ball of tin foil. 😢 |
Several comments on the post talked about the road closures. I didn't think much about it when I read them because I figured the water would soon go back down. But this document shows that some of the closures would have lasted for a while because they were closed because they were gone.
In the case of I-88, the culvert could not handle the flow. David Swingle and Patrick O'Connell were the truckers who lost their lives. [GribbleNation_1_year_later]
The culvert wasn't just a couple of pipes; it was a concrete structure because another source talked about the state was planning on refurbishing the concrete floor of the culvert. And we can see remnants of the concrete walls in the disaster photos.
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| NYDOT, p1 |
The culvert wasn't just a couple of pipes; it was a concrete structure because another source talked about the state was planning on refurbishing the concrete floor of the culvert. And we can see remnants of the concrete walls in the disaster photos.
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| GribbleNation, Jim McKnight/AP "You can see the remnants of the culvert in the center of the quiet stream turned rapids. The box trailer that is shown falling into the water would flow a mile downstream crashing into a bridge that carries NY 7 over the same creek." |
This photo was taken soon after the collapse. GribbleNation stated that the erosion eventually took out the exit sign that we still see in this photo. Also, the water level is still quite high. Cars can turn around and go back to the nearest exit to get off the road. But how do you turn an 18-wheeler around on a 2-lane highway?
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| ResearchGate |
However, the completion of a new culvert did not end the problems for I-88 at Carrs Creek. Earlier this year, NYSDOT had to let a contract to replace 8500 cubic yards of polystyrene fill that was used in the construction of the new structure. The fill was structurally failing as the new roadway began to sag. The fill is to be replaced by "expanded shale" at a cost of $1.1 million. The project is to end in July.
The polystyrene fill will be replaced by an "expanded shale" fill. The fill will come from a process that heats shale rock to 1000 degrees. A description by the DOT of the expanded shale is "The layers in the rock expand like popcorn and are baked by the heat, producing a material that is light, stable and strong."On top of the fill will be three feet of asphalt.
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