Norfolk Southern–Gregson Street Overpass
Norfolk Southern–Gregson Street Overpass | |
|---|---|
View of overpass from its northern approach circa 2015. Photograph is before signalization was added and the warning beacons were removed. | |
| Coordinates | 35°59′56.8″N 78°54′36.5″W / 35.999111°N 78.910139°W |
| Carries | Amtrak Norfolk Southern Railway |
| Crosses | South Gregson Street |
| Locale | Durham, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Official name | Norfolk Southern–Gregson Street Overpass |
| Other name(s) |
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| Owner | North Carolina Railroad |
| Structure Number | 000000000630068 |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | Stringer/Multi-beam or Girder |
| Material | Steel |
| Total length | 92 ft (28 m) |
| No. of spans | 2 |
| Clearance below | 12 ft 4 in (3.76 m) (as of October 2019) |
| History | |
| Opened | 1940 |
| Rebuilt | October 2019 |
| Statistics | |
| Daily traffic | 11,000 (2003) with 6% of truck traffic |
| Location | |
The Norfolk Southern–Gregson Street Overpass, also known as the 11-foot-8 Bridge or the Can Opener Bridge, is a railroad bridge in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Built in 1940, the bridge allows passenger and freight trains to cross over South Gregson Street in downtown Durham and also functions as the northbound access to the nearby Durham Amtrak station.
The bridge was designed in the 1920s, with a clearance for vehicles of 11 feet 8 inches (3.56 m), the standard height when it opened. Since 1973, the standard clearance for bridges was increased to a minimum height of 14 feet (4.27 m), although bridges constructed before this date were not required to be rebuilt to meet the increased clearance requirement. Despite numerous warning signs about the low clearance, a large number of trucks, buses, and RVs have collided with the overpass at high speed, tearing off roof fixtures, and at times shearing off the trucks' roofs, earning the bridge the nicknames the "Can Opener" and the "Gregson Street Guillotine".
The bridge gained fame as a nearby office worker, Jürgen Henn, set up cameras in 2008 to track the collisions with the bridge.
Despite the number of crashes, a March 2014 report stated that only three injuries had been recorded, making rebuilding of the bridge a low-priority concern. Later, in October 2019, the North Carolina Railroad Company, which owns the bridge and tracks, raised the bridge by 8 inches (20 cm) to 12 feet 4 inches (3.76 m) to reduce collisions and to eliminate the grade difference between the level crossing nearby and the bridge itself, although that is still well below the standard height. Collisions involving vehicles that are too tall to safely pass under the bridge continue to occur.