Middletown will readvertiseto fix a truck-eating low bridge after the township received zero bids on the project.
The 9’ 9” high railroad overpass on S. Flowers Mill Road in Langhorne has destroyed truck trailers, closed the road and snarled traffic for years.
The township received some $200,000 in state funding
to design and install an advanced warning system to stop taller vehicles from traveling the road.
Highway signs clearly mark the bridge’s height but are either missed or ignored by truckers unfamiliar with the CSX/SEPTA span.
At least six trucks became stuck beneath the bridge between 2024 and 2025, according to press reports.
When the board of supervisors called for bids on the project this year, it received none. The board voted 5-0 to
readvertise the job at its September meeting.
“The improvements will provide additional warning to drivers as they approach the bridge, making the bridge and its height restrictions more noticeable to drivers of larger vehicles,” said township spokesperson Liz Martin.
“We do not anticipate significant road closures as a result of the project. If a closure is necessary, we expect it would most likely be limited to a few hours,” she said.
Truckers have had trouble with the bridge for years.
“There are three types of truck incidents we have with that particular bridge,” said Police Chief Joe Bartorilla.
First and most frequent, he said, are trucks whose drivers believe they can squeeze under it, despite existing warning signs. They stop just before the bridge, and then Middletown police must come to the rescue by managing traffic while the rig turns around.
Second are truckers who believe they can make it, but go slow, and attempt to inch their way under the span. They become lodged beneath the bridge. It happens a couple of times per month.
“That one is more involved and takes more time to clear,” the chief said.
Third are truckers who try to barrel through.
“(They) step on the gas and then smash into the bridge and rip the top of their trailers off, scattering whatever they’re carrying,” he said.
Those happen about twice a year.
“That is usually a nightmare cleanup with heavy damage to the truck and potentially the bridge as well,” he said.
The bridge can take the hits.
“That bridge is pretty sturdy and absorbs those crashes well,” Bartorilla said. “The bridge has been checked several times by engineers over the years and to my knowledge no structural damage compromising the integrity of the bridge has been found,” he said.
The bridge carries CSX freight trains and SEPTA’s West Trenton line to Philadelphia.
JD Mullane can be reached at jmullane@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Middletown to fix 'truck-eating' bridge on S. Flowers Mill Road
