Above: Once again, a tall tractor trailer proved to be no match for the low hanging River St bridge (image cropped from photo by John Kendal)
The River Street Bridge was in the news last night (with video) after another truck was “storrowed”. This time, the commuter rail slowly passed over the bridge while the truck was still stuck.
WCVB posted video that included footage of the train, shared by a Hopkinton resident. And the our town’s longtime chronicler of the truck v bridge incidents — John Kendall — sent me his photos:
Another reader, Beth Conlin also sent in hers:
WCVB’s Mary Saldana reported that the Toll Brothers tractor-trailer was carrying building materials when it rammed into the bridge and got stuck. While a worker was still cutting away metal from the trailer roof to try to unjam it, the commuter rail came through.
As I’ve previously reported, after a crash is reported, trains aren’t allowed to pass until the bridge has been inspected for damage. According to Saldana, the Southborough Police Chief confirmed that CSX had already sent out an inspector who cleared that the bridge was not compromised. He also confirmed that no one was hurt in the accident.
(Scroll down for the video of her full story.)
Longtime readers should recall that Kendall has been reporting to the blog on similar incidents at the River St Bridge for many years. First he advocated for a flashing sign. But incidents continued after the Town finally installed one. You can read more about the history from my last story on an incident in August 2025 here.
That doesn’t mean that the bridge went more than a year without getting rammed again. There was also an incident last Halloween that Kendall sent in pics of. (It was a Friday night, and I didn’t follow up with a story the next week.)
Last fall, I asked Kendall if he had any thoughts on what might stop or further lessen the incidents since the flashing sign didn’t do the trick.
He quipped:
Paint the bridge yellow and then letter it LOW BRIDGE? Flashing lights on the bridge? Bridge mounted machine gun? Dunno. Trucks still hit the Westboro bridge no matter what they put up.
To his point, back in 2023, I shared Google Maps photos that indicate that a tall truck actually broke off half of the big warning sign on the bridge that crosses Route 30 in Westborough.
Last fall, Kendall, who was on the scene after both the August & October 2025 accidents, informed me that both drivers were inexperienced. And he believed they were using Google Maps. Kendall advocates that tractor-trailer drivers should be using commercial GPS systems that flag hazards like low bridges.
Now here’s the WCVB Channel 5 News report:
Updated (9/30/26 10:02 am): I added two more reader-contributed photos.
