Here in Louisville we have a monument to human stupidity, or what the locals here affectionately call the U of L can opener. This low clearance railroad overpass has been hanging over 3rd Street and snacking on unwary semis for far longer than I've been living here. That structure in the background was a brand new Ford Assembly Plant back in 1916, suspect the railroad dates back at least that long.
Talk about having a bad day... Hardly a week passes here that the can opener doesn't feast on freight at least once. Actually, the can opener is a pair of parallel railroad overpasses about a hundred yards apart, with the other one usually catching the semis headed the opposite direction.
Before everything got 'smart' there was just your usual signage to warn truckers and I don't recall it happening quite as often. More a novelty in 2004. Now though, we've gone high tech with sensors and electronic signs to warn overheight drivers to turn and it's almost a weekly occurrence. Also a local running joke, along with cars crashing into buildings.
While I've seen it happen many times, along with the occasional heeded warning, this was the first time I've gotten the opportunity to snap photos. Was driving back from shooting in my old neighborhood when I happened upon this scene and knew I had to stop. Soon as I could find parking I hiked back and started shooting, even beat LMPD to the scene.
Happened right at the start of rush hour, had traffic backed up like a junkie without their laxative. Think everybody was too busy laughing and taking photos to get too irritated. They knew they were stuck anyways.
Almost made it dude. Wonder what he'd have done if he had managed to scrape on through? I know the U of L Can Opener is far from the only one out there, who else has carnivorous infrastructure?
