GLENVILLE — Police Tuesday identified the driver in Saturday’s Glenridge Road bridge strike as a Schenectady man.
Alaun Ruise, 27, of Schenectady, struck the bridge with the truck he was driving just after 10 a.m. Saturday, Glenville Police Chief Stephen Janik said Tuesday.
Ruise had been headed eastbound when he struck the bridge that has been the subject of a string of bridge strikes in recent years.
Saturday’s strike — the second in the span of roughly 24 hours — tore open the truck’s trailer, leaving the sides and roof on the pavement and traffic blocked.
No one was hurt, but a car was damaged after it hit debris, Glenville Supervisor Chris Koetzle said previously.
Saturday’s truck was operated by Albany-based The Ideal Move, according to markings on its cab door.
Police cited Ruise for failing to obey a traffic control device under state vehicle and traffic law, as well as failure to obey height restrictions under Glenville town code.
The day before the Saturday strike, a Canadian man was ticketed after hitting the bridge and shearing off the top of the produce-carrying trailer that he was hauling.
That driver, Paul Kooduthottiyil, 30, of Ontario, Canada, was issued the same citations. The town ordinance could bring a $500 fine.
Bridge strikes have been a frequent program on Glenridge Road for years, leading to extended road closures to dislodge stuck vehicles and clean up debris.
State and local officials have cited safety concerns, and last year the state Department of Transportation unveiled a number of plans — both immediate and long-term — to reduce the number of strikes. Those include the installation of flashing beacons to supplement the 14 signs already in place to warn drivers of the low bridge.
More recently, the DOT paved a half-circle turnaround area on both sides of Glenridge Road that gives over-height vehicles room to turn around before striking the bridge, which has a clearance of 10 feet, 11 inches.
The DOT is also in the process of designing a detection system that would be tripped whenever an over-height vehicle passes, causing a pair of electronic message boards to display a warning that the vehicle is too tall to pass under a bridge and sending a message to DOT’s Transportation Management System.
That system is expected to be installed some time next year, and Saturday was the third time the bridge was struck since the turnaround areas were installed.
Images: Notorious Glenville bridge struck again (yes, again) Saturday – Second time in two days (6 photos)
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Any commercial driver incompetent enough to hit this bridge, should be forced to surrender his license on the spot. The company he or she works for should be made to pay for any repairs and the fine should be 500,000 dollars levied against the company and driver. There is absolutely no excuse for hitting this, or any bridge. I am very concerned by the fact that these same idiots are driving 50 ton trucks at 90 mph all over our highways while texting, tailgating and watching youtube.