An excavator being towed on a trailer caused an estimated $400,000 in damage when it hit a Maine Turnpike overpass in Scarborough, Maine State Police said.
A dump truck was going south when the boom of the excavator being towed behind it hit steel beams on the Exit 45 overpass.
The impact tore a chunk of steel from the bridge, which hit the hood of a car behind the trailer.
No one was injured.
Although some steel support beams were damaged, turnpike engineers determined that the overpass can safely carry traffic by channeling vehicles away from the area supported by the damaged beams. Only southbound trucks carrying loads over 14 feet wide will be prohibited from entering the turnpike at Exit 45. Initially, the Maine Turnpike Authority had estimated that travel would be restricted to personal vehicles.
The driver of the dump truck, Thomas J. Stanley, 33, of Old Orchard Beach, was charged with driving with an unsecured load and traveling over height on the turnpike.
The company that owns the truck and excavator, Williams Brothers Paving, also was cited by the state police commercial vehicle enforcement unit for a trailer brake violation.
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