Infamous Talbot Street rail bridge here to stay, despite occasional crashes: City

London’s notorious roof-shearing, low-clearance Talbot Street rail bridge will keep on trucking.

Don’t expect a fix to the truck-busting infrastructure just south of Oxford Street, city officials say.

An overhaul of the bridge – owned by CP rail – or the city road under it would be impractical, costly and not a likely priority for city hall, London’s transportation boss said Wednesday, a day after a produce truck tangled with the infamous crossing.

“It has been assessed in the past, and it would require a major reconstruction to increase the clearance,” said Doug MacRae, city hall’s director of transportation and mobility. “There would be a major cost to fix the clearance height.”

London police said Wednesday there were no injuries in the crash that sheared part of the roof off a truck the day before. The investigation was handled by police reporting center staff and no charges have been laid against the driver, police said.

The Talbot Street bridge has a 3.3 meter clearance, 30 per cent less the 4.3 meter gap under the CP rail bridge to the west spanning Oxford Street and the Thames River.

Fixing the problem crossing would require either raising the bridge or lowering Talbot Street, MacRae said. Neither are workable options, he said.

Replacing the Talbot Street rail bridge to boost the clearance would trigger an “enormous” project that would involve a major overhaul of the rail bridge to the west, MacRae said.

Lowering Talbot Street couldn’t be done without replacing the rail bridge and triggering a big dig to reconstruct a “significant length of sewers” ​​under the road, he said. The project would involve a lowering of Oxford Street too.

Absent a feasible long-term fix, enhanced safety measures in the area in recent years have reduced the frequency of collisions, MacRae said.

Steel I-beams, clad with yellow and black reflective warning stripes, on both sides of the bridge stop too-tall trucks from hitting the actual structure, MacRae said.

In 2017, the city set up signage in the lead up to the bridge at the same height of the low-clearance rail crossing, MacRae said. Trucks over the maximum height will hit the flexible signs, which are designed not to cause damage to vehicles. Hitting the signs triggers an alarm for drivers.

Ward 13 Coun. David Ferreira, whose ward includes the aging crossing, knows the bridge well. About a decade ago he was driving behind an insulation truck that wedged itself under the low crossing.

“The first part of the truck roof peeled back like a can of sardines. I stopped and reversed because I was afraid the box was going to come off,” he said.

Ferreira said he asked city staff about the Talbot Street bridge earlier this year after questions from a constituent. Though a long-term end to can-opener crashes at the site would be nice, the city has many other priorities and a massive overhaul of the site is not feasible on the non-arterial road, he said.

“The city has put as many measures in that area as it possibly can without actually replacing the bridge,” he said. “Considering the cost and magnitude of everything, I don’t foresee the bridge itself or the clearance under it being changed any time in the near future.”

While crashes and property damage are no laughing matter, the bridge has become a sort of inside joke among many Londoners, even spawning its own account on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

“Mmm…fruit salad!” the Talbot Street Bridge account wrote in response to Tuesday’s crash involving a produce truck with an image of a bowl of fresh fruit emblazoned on the side.

Casualties of the low-clearance bridge in recent years include a garbage truck that leaked hydraulic fluid on the road, food service trucks and several moving trucks. Tow trucks often are needed to pry wedged vehicles out.

The Talbot Street underpass is a popular Plan B for drivers trying to avoid slow-moving or stopped trains at the surface-level train crossing at Richmond Street south of Piccadilly Street.

The Quebec Street overpass, east of downtown, is the only other way to avoid surface crossings on the CP line through downtown. The under-construction Adelaide Street underpass project, scheduled to open in late 2024, will provide another route.

[email protected]

Twitter.com/JenatLFPress