![]() ![]() The state of North Carolina owns the North Carolina Railroad Company, which owns the land and the bridge. The beam's web is horizontal to better absorb the shear force of truck collisions. Just below the bridge is a wide-flange steel H-beam to protect it from over-height trucks. Ī view from under the bridge, facing traffic. Later, in October 2019, the North Carolina Railroad Company, which owns the bridge and tracks, raised the bridge by 8 inches (20 cm) to 12 feet 4 inches (3.76 m) to reduce collisions (although that is still well below the standard height of 14ft). Henn has recorded over 150 collisions with the bridge, including those after the bridge raising, and the YouTube channel he set up to showcase his recordings has 252,000 subscribers and more than 79 million views.ĭespite the number of crashes, a March 2014 report stated that only three injuries had been recorded, making rebuilding of the bridge a low-priority concern. ![]() The bridge gained fame as a nearby office worker, Jürgen Henn, set up cameras in 2008 to track the collisions with the bridge. Despite numerous warning signs about the low clearance, a large number of trucks, buses, and RVs have collided with the overpass at high speed, tearing off roof fixtures, and at times shearing off the trucks' roofs, earning the bridge the nicknames the "Can Opener" and the "Gregson Street Guillotine". Since 1973, the standard clearance for bridges was increased to a minimum height of 14 feet (4.27 m), which is 2 feet 4 inches (0.71 m) higher than the bridge as built. The bridge was designed in the 1920s and built in 1940, with a clearance for vehicles of 11 feet 8 inches (3.56 m), the standard height at the time it opened. The 82-year-old bridge allows passenger and freight trains to cross over South Gregson Street in downtown Durham. The Norfolk Southern–Gregson Street Overpass (commonly known as the 11-foot-8 Bridge or 11-foot-8+8 Bridge post-raising and nicknamed The Can Opener or The Gregson Street Guillotine) is a railroad bridge in Durham, North Carolina, United States.
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