Copyright CBS News
A septic truck driver will not be cited after driving over a small bridge that collapsed on Monday in Baltimore County, according to police. Police interviewed the driver and completed a thorough inspection of the truck and determined there was no violation for crossing the bridge on Carroll and Philpot roads in Phoenix, Maryland. There were no injuries reported. Response to the bridge collapse Emergency responders went to the scene around 5 p.m. Monday after a bridge collapsed less than a 10-minute drive from Hunt Valley Town Center. 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. "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." Brother of the truck driver speaks In several messages, the brother of the septic truck's driver told WJZ Investigates that 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." Carroll Road bridge report Baltimore County inspects all bridges more than 20 feet long every two years as mandated by the federal government. WJZ Investigates learned 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 of 20 years ago. Moroney said it is critical for 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."
