Historic Indiana Bridge Collapses Under Weight of Semitrailer

A historic iron bridge in Indiana collapsed after a semitrailer carrying nearly six times the posted weight limit tried to cross it, police said.

The truck was hauling 43,000 pounds of bottled water when its 23-year-old driver, Mary Lambright, attempted to barrel through the small bridge in the southern Indiana town of Paoli about noon on Christmas, Orange County Indiana Law Enforcement said Saturday.

The top of the truck “immediately began ripping open” because it was taller than the top of the bridge, authorities said, and the bridge soon collapsed.

The tiny overpass was built in 1880 and was “one of the few things left in Paoli that’s historical,” Paoli Town Council President Michael Harkness told the Associated Press. Lambright will have to pay $135 for disregarding a posted sign.