VIDEO: Truck ‘scrapes’ its way through tunnel, loses entire roof

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA/Gray News) -Despite warnings, a truck managed to make it through a tunnel in Alabama. But it didn’t come out the same way.

The entire roof of a Ryder truck was ripped off with the cargo still inside while it traveled through the Bankhead Tunnel Tuesday morning.

Alabama Department of Transportation officials said this happens far too often.

But more than anything, it’s a headache for the transportation department, especially when there are several signs to alert these truck drivers.

James Gordon, a spokesman for ALDOT, said the driver managed to roll through 3,300 feet of steel concrete.

“The entire time he was driving through the tunnel, he must’ve heard the roof of the truck being ripped off,” Gordon said.

But those warnings didn’t stop that determined driver.

Officials said the first warnings start with a laser that signals the alarm system on both sides of the tunnel and 12-foot clearance signs along with metal chains that will hit the top of the truck.

Gordon says in this case, there was no significant damage.

“Folks that go in there, they take a look at any damage to the tunnel, and in this case, there was no damage,” Gordon said. “There is a cement barrier that runs the length of the tunnel, and that’s what this truck was hitting.”

Less than 24 hours before that, another attempt was made by a moving company truck, leaving damage to the top left corner of the truck. Luckily, that one stopped.

Several other drivers have gotten stuck in recent months.

“They always say that my GPS told me to go this way,” Gordon said. “I mean, that’s what I’ve been told, and that’s what they tell the police department after they tell us.”

Mobile resident Davis Hightower said it’s unbelievable how truck drivers can ignore all the warnings.

“How could they not hear the siren? And how could they not hear the metal peeling back,” Hightower said. “It was like opening a sardine can.”

It took ALDOT a little more than two hours to inspect the tunnel afterward.

They reminded drivers always to pay attention and use caution.

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