Excavator hits Niles bridge, again

Published 10:59 am Monday, February 29, 2016

Leader photos/CRAIG HAUPERT Public safety officials and others observe the scene after an excavator hit the US-12 bridge where it crosses South 11th Street in Niles Monday morning.

Leader photos/CRAIG HAUPERT
Public safety officials and others observe the scene after an excavator hit the US-12 bridge where it crosses South 11th Street in Niles Monday morning.

For the second time in less than a year, an excavator being hauled on the back of a flat-bed trailer hit the U.S. 12 bridge where it crosses South 11th Street in Niles.

It happened before 10 a.m. Monday morning, causing traffic to be closed to vehicles traveling north on South 11th Street in the area of the incident.

Southbound traffic on South 11th Street remained open in one lane as of 10:30 a.m. Traffic on the bridge remained open in both directions.

A Michigan State Police trooper at the scene said no one was injured, but the impact caused the trailer to detach from the truck that was pulling it. The truck was traveling north on South 11th Street.

Troy Farkas, manager of the Niles CAT rental store, said the excavator was a rental from his store.

Although he did not speak to the specifics of this incident, Farkas said the person renting the equipment is responsible for checking the height of the equipment.

Chief Gary Brovold, of the Niles Township Fire Department, said public safety officials were in the process of determining how to remove the excavator as of 10:20 a.m.

An excavator hit the same spot on the bridge on March 12, 2015.

This story will be updated.