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The collapse of a 145-year-old bridge in Baltimore County on Monday has investigators working to determine the cause, and the brother of a septic truck driver relieved there were no injuries. The historic, one-lane bridge on Carroll Road in Phoenix, Maryland, is used by thousands of vehicles daily, and the structure fell apart as the septic truck drove over it. "I'm so glad he is alive," the brother of the septic truck driver told WJZ Investigates. Sudden bridge collapse The first calls came in just after 5 p.m. Monday about a bridge failure less than a 10-minute drive from Hunt Valley Town Center. "Alert rescue boats. Philpot Road and Carroll Road for a bridge collapse with a vehicle on top," the dispatcher said. First responders arrived at a stunning scene. The pin-truss bridge had collapsed with a septic truck on top. A large tree also fell into it. The truck's windshield was smashed, and pieces of the green metal truss were strewn about. An SUV behind the truck had a dented roof and a smashed windshield. Thankfully, no one was injured. "Actually, it was pretty shocking," said Molly Moroney, who lives a short distance away and drives over the bridge almost every day. "It was worse than I thought it was going to be. A tree had fallen. It was pretty much right after a truck had gone over the bridge. The tree was huge." A state environmental team also responded but found no dangers or leaks. "I just thought about our family and our neighborhood and these little kids and maybe smaller cars or something," Moroney continued. "I don't think it would've ended well with anything smaller than that big truck." Truck driver's perspective In several messages, the brother of the septic truck's driver told WJZ Investigates the truck weighed under the posted weight limit and said the truck was not to blame. He added that supports on the bridge were "inadequate to support the posted loading maximums." He wrote. "My brother is the driver. Luckily, he is OK. He is a local small business owner, always conscientious of posted weight limits and restrictions, and that truck is his pride and joy. …Had the massive tree fallen a split second earlier onto the cab of the truck, my brother could have been killed or seriously injured." Police investigation Baltimore County police are leading the investigation. They told WJZ they are using a team of certified commercial vehicle inspectors Police said the cause of the collapse has yet to be determined. Inspection report The county inspects all bridges more than 20 feet long every two years as mandated by the federal government. WJZ Investigates looked at those records and found the Carroll Road bridge received a "fair" rating in December 2023. It was inspected again last year, and that inspection did not show unusual structural issues with the bridge, which was constructed in 1879. With growth in the area, the single-lane bridge is now seeing an average of more than 2,500 vehicles and more than 120 trucks every day, according to the report, more than three times the traffic 20 years ago. Moroney said it is critical to her to find out about the bridge's inspection and maintenance. "Actually, it's really important to me just because we have small children who go to school, and we go back and forth over that bridge all the time," she said. "So, it's pretty important to find out what went wrong."
