SAFETY: New system seeks to prevent collisions of overheight trucks with bridges along I-35

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is installing a new bridge warning system along southbound lanes of I-35, between Airport Boulevard and Riverside Drive in the Austin area, to detect overheight trucks.

The $412,000 project was funded by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Commercial Vehicle Information Systems and Networks grant, through the TxDMV.

The detection system will be places along southbound I-35 and will alert drivers of overheight vehicles multiple times of low clearance bridges like the bridge at Cesar Chavez where that stands at 12-ft-high.

When activated, the system will send a command message to roadway signs with beacons that will flash. In addition, an alert will be sent to TxDOT’s traffic management center CTECC and the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles to advise them of a potential collision.

Work is scheduled to begin in February and is expected to be complete in Summer 2016.