Here in Louisville, we have us a monument to human optimism, which the locals affectionately refer to as the Louisville Can Opener. Consisting of a pair of railroad bridges bracketing a block of 3rd Street near the University of Louisville, they're a little low in the clearance department and fond of snacking on tractor trailers and box trucks.
The bridges are more than 90 years old and for as long as anyone can remember they've been taking bites out of traffic. Moved up here a couple decades ago and in the years since the city and state steadily added more and more signage to warn drivers of the hungry infrastructure, to little avail. Hell, they even added sensors and electronic signs to warn over height vehicles to turn and still it gets action.
Don't have hard numbers, but it seems to average at least one a week. Have posted proof of its appetites in the past, but it was only recently that we got final confirmation of its status as a monument to human optimism. On June 1st they shut down several miles of I-65, the interstate highway that runs smack dab through the middle of town, to demolish and rebuild several crumbling bridges. The closure affects the portion of the highway that usually carries traffic to and through downtown, which has shunted much of it onto nearby surface streets such as 3rd Street here.
Was heading home on 3rd this past Sunday when I came upon a police cruiser with flashing lights blocking my passage through the Can Opener--it'd struck again! Had just got done shooting an event, so after looping around to the other side I got my camera back out and walked down to see the aftermath of the latest feeding. At first glance it seemed to be a rarity, one without obvious damage. . .and then the back end of the truck came into view. Looked like this one had just squeezed through the first half before getting stuck at the second bridge. Tow trucker driver said that the police had told him this was the 17th truck to get caught by the Can Opener in the just less than a week's time since I-65 shut down, and that they were pretty sure there were a bunch that weren't getting reported.
After the Can Opener's big day on the first day of the I-65 shutdown, the city has added even more signs warning of it, by the time I captured these shots there were more than 30 warning signs up. They'd even added the big flashing electronic signs you normally see warning of road work at each end of the Can Opener, telling all trucks to turn left.
'It's all good, I think I can make it. . .'
Seventeen trucks in less than a week, is there a better monument to human optimism? Now if you need me, I'll be taking bets on how many it gets by the time the highway finally reopens.
