Another driver has learned the hard way that Westbrook’s Brown Street Bridge is not to be contended with.
The Brown Street Bridge carries train tracks over Brown Street in Westbrook. It has a clearance of 11.5 feet. Even with big yellow signs announcing the low clearance, many trucks have tried to squeeze through anyway.
On Tuesday morning, a driver attempted to pass underneath the bridge in a Ryder box truck, only for the bridge to rip off the top like a giant maw.
Just after 10:30 a.m., the Westbrook Police Department urged drivers to avoid the area so crews can clean up the wreckage.
It was unclear how long it would take to clean up the scene.
The driver can feel assured they aren’t the first — and, no doubt, won’t be the last — to be bested by the Brown Street Bridge, which is leaving a path of destruction rivaled only by the Auburn Walmart pole.
The Brown Street Bridge thoroughly chewed up a luckless box truck in April 2024. At the time, police said it was the latest among several crashes involving trucks and the bridge over the previous couple months.
The previous September saw a tractor-trailer become wedged under the bridge after trying to squeeze beneath it.
