Banned rig crash nothing new to Parkway [Greenwich Time]

Article as it appeared in the Greenwich Time

A tractor-trailer crashed into an overpass on the Merritt Parkway near the state border in Greenwich on Monday, forcing northbound vehicles to detour around the scene for four hours.

The resulting backup stretched into New York, as state and local police diverted vehicles off the Hutchinson River Parkway at exit 30 then back onto the Merritt at exit 27. The crashed truck sustained significant damage to its cab when it clipped the bridge, and part of its load became dislodged.

Authorities cleared the scene of the noon crash and reopened the northbound lanes by about 4 p.m., just in time for typical commuter traffic to clog the roadway again.

Though the big rigs are banned from the picturesque parkway, similar crashes have happened before.

In September 2009, a produce truck struck the same overpass in a crash that snarled traffic and littered the roadway with hundreds of onions.

In fact, banned vehicles crashing into parkway overpasses have become something of a yearly tradition, with big rigs stopping traffic in each of the last four years.

In March 2012 it was a garbage truck, slamming into the Grumman Avenue overpass in Norwalk, that stopped up traffic for hours.

The previous November, a tractor-trailer wedged itself beneath a bridge on the parkway in Norwalk.

And in August 2010, a truck carrying 50,000 pounds of flour hit the North Avenue overpass in Westport, causing a backup that lasted more than six hours.

During the last session in the General Assembly, state Sen. Toni Boucher, R-Wilton, proposed a bill calling for height barriers at the Parkway’s on-ramps to help enforce the ban on large trucks. The bill died in committee.

Jim Shay contributed to this report.