Longview, TX — It has a clearance level just over 11 feet with an appetite that can't be satisfied. The "Green Street Monster" ate another truck on Tuesday.
Back in 2017, there was a total of three accidents involving that bridge; in 2016, there was five. From 2014 until now there has been a total of 13 trucks that have all tried to tame the "Green Street Monster".
If you couldn't tell... this bridge has become quite the joke around Longview, not to mention all over social media.
It has it's own Facebook page dedicated to memes and pictures when trucks get stuck under the bridge.
It's a situation that causes Lieutenant Shane McCarter with the Longview Police Department to shake his head anytime a call comes in involving a truck and the bridge.
"We've had another driver that has not paid attention to the warning signs and is probably off of the truck route and is stuck underneath the bridge, again," Lt. McCarter said.
Trucks into the bridge has been a frustration for the city but in recent years, it's become comical.
McCarter says truck drivers need to pay attention.
"As a driver of a truck, they should know what their load is and what they will be able to actually clear underneath that bridge."
It's also important to know the truck routes throughout the City of Longview. According to this map, they aren't even supposed to be on Green St.
Which means the truck driver isn't just leaving with a damaged vehicle, he's leaving with a ticket.
Longview has done all it can do to alert truck drivers and help a few of them out.
They've lowered the street as much as they can and different alert systems.
"We've tried different devices throughout the lifespan of that bridge in order to put warning devices up. Different styles have been added. Different types have been tried, but it doesn't seem to matter what it is that we put up drivers still make an effort to put their trucks underneath that bridge," the Lieutenant said.
Currently, they have pipes hanging down. If your vehicle strikes them, you need to stop.
The City would prefer a driver stop and call for traffic control so they can back out, then a truck being stuck.
"The good news is usually it doesn't really have any impact on the bridge," according to Shawn Hara with the City of Longview.
That's in part, due to the low speed limit, and also in part, to the sound structure of the bridge itself.
"This is a very strong, sturdy, steel bridge that's getting hit essentially by a little tin cup," Hara said. "The bridge always wins in those scenarios."
The bridge is host to a train track. Every time it's struck, Union Pacific comes out to inspect the bridge. According to the Longview Police Department, that inspection happened yesterday and the bridge is good to go.
The accident yesterday also caught the attention of passersby. Many posting to social media about the "Green Street Monster".
"I was just on Facebook and I noticed two or three of my friends had driven by and just caught candid shots of the truck stuck under the bridge and said oh it got another one somebody should do something," Seth Nobles has always found this to be comical.
He even started a petition on Tuesday to have a scoreboard installed.
"Somebody needs to keep track of the score at this point, it has quite the track record and I don't, I don't believe a truck has won yet," Nobles said. "If you would go around the corner and say oh I'm going to be number 19, I don’t want to be number 19, I'm gonna go around."
Other ideas have been floating around such as painting a "Green Street Monster" or a giant mouth. Some have suggested a sculpture of a monster.
At the end of the day the police department asks for drivers to pay attention, at stay away from the "Green Street Monster".