Bridge strikes in New York by oversized vehicles: State launches campaign, steps up enforcement

New York State Police will increase patrols at areas of frequent bridge strikes across New York parkways this week to raise awareness of a growing number of incidents, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced.

Patrols will tour areas of known bridge hits and state parkways to prevent commercial and oversized vehicles from colliding with overpasses, the governor’s office said in a news release. State police will also coordinate enforcement with local police agencies who inspect commercial vehicles in areas that have high occurrences of bridge strikes.

“Bridge strikes are potentially hazardous to motorists and first responders and have caused needless inconveniences for local communities — but these incidents are 100% preventable,” Hochul said in a statement.

There were 1,954 bridge-strike crashes on state roads between 2017-2022, with the number of annual incidents increasing from 225 in 2017 to 464 in 2022, according to the State Department of Transportation. Since 2019, there have been 490 Long Island bridge strikes on state roads, department officials told Newsday in September.

Most state parkways on Long Island were built in the mid-20th century, with low stone-arch bridges and restrictive underpasses intended to accommodate passenger-sized vehicles. Trucks, buses and other commercial vehicles are generally prohibited on Long Island parkways.

In 2018, a bus carrying 38 high school students and five chaperones crashed into a Southern State Parkway overpass between exits 18 and 19 in Lakeview, seriously injuring two people, and causing minor or moderate injuries to more than 40 others, police said. The driver, authorities said, was not aware of the restrictions on buses entering the parkway.

Mark J.F. Schroeder, chair of the governor’s Traffic Safety Committee, said GPS mapping software does not always provide information on bridge heights.

“It is so important that drivers of all kinds of trucks check the height of bridges on their planned routes to be sure their vehicle will safely fit,” Schroeder said in a statement.

Hochul said commercial vehicle drivers need to follow posted warnings and know the height of their vehicles to better prevent these incidents.

To that end, the state this year installed more than 300 new, larger low-bridge warning signs on Long Island parkways. 

The DMV has also proposed a set of regulatory amendments which include assigning point values on a driver’s license for striking a bridge. The public comment period on the new regulations ends Monday, the governor’s office noted.

By Grant Parpan

grant.parpan@newsday.com@GrantParpan

Grant Parpan covers Suffolk County courts and federal courts for Newsday. A Long Island native, he joined Newsday in 2022.