Another Bridge Strike in East Hampton Village

Another day, another bridge strike.

On Thursday, just before 5 p.m., a 2005 Isuzu box truck struck the overpass on Accabonac Road in East Hampton. The bridge strike comes less than 24 hours after the Long Island Rail Road finished repairing structural damage to the rails on the nearby North Main Street overpass that occurred when a garbage truck slammed into it on Tuesday.  

Village Police Chief Gerard Larsen said the box truck is stuck under the Accabonac Road overpass. A tow truck was called and police were routing traffic around the truck. No injuries were reported.

Railroad officials have been notified and will assess the damage, but it wasn’t clear whether service would be suspended on the Montauk line. According to police dispatch, service was not immediately suspended while crews responded to assess the damage. 

"They will likely suspend service until the bridge inspectors can get out there to check it out and determine extent of damage," Salvatore Arena, a spokesman for the L.I.R.R., said in an email on Thursday evening after hearing of the accident. 

Chief Larsen said it didn't appear the Thursday incident was as serious as the situation on Tuesday, when the garbage truck hit the North Main Street overpass so hard it caused a shift in the tracks. Train service was suspended immediately. A crane was brought in and crews worked overnight to fix the damages, completing them early Wednesday evening, just in time for the Memorial Day weekend rush.

After the incident on Tuesday, buses replaced trains east of Bridgehampton.