Mysterious, falling concrete chunks damage cars near railway bridge, drivers say

INDIANAPOLIS - A handful of drivers are demanding an explanation for dangerous debris falling near a railway bridge.




"If you're trying to avoid a chunk of concrete, you might hit a pothole," said Jennifer Miller as she described the area. "If you avoid a pothole, you might get hit by a falling chunk of concrete."




Madison Avenue, just south of downtown, isn't the tidiest road around. Drivers like Miller believe it's also not the safest because chunks of concrete mysteriously hit at least three cars passing under a CSX railway bridge Tuesday morning.




"It was just kind of a rain shower of glass," Miller said. "Thankfully, it didn't come through my sunroof. It shattered it and went off the back of my car. Could've been a lot worse."




Around 6:30 a.m., Kelly Goodall finished her commute to work sitting next to the block of concrete that flew through her windshield.




"It's very frustrating," Goodall said. "It's a safety issue for a lot of people. I could have been significantly hurt. If one of my daughters had been in the vehicle with me, that would've landed on them. Or it could've killed somebody."




Goodall recalls the silhouette of a person with a bike standing at the top of the bridge moments before impact. The other drivers FOX59/CBS4 spoke to did not see anyone, leaving them all wondering whether this was intentional, or if bridge materials are crumbling from above, and which possibility is more frightening.




"Six of one, half dozen of another," Goodall said. Both are pretty bad."




According to IMPD, an officer went to the area near East Raymond Street and verified concrete debris fell from the bridge, which CSX denies. A spokesperson for CSX blamed the damage on a retaining wall parallel to Madison Avenue, saying "It appears that the concrete is spalling off the face of the wall."




The problem is, the wall in question is not nearly tall enough to send a chunk through someone's sunroof or windshield.




"Somebody's got to get to the bottom of it," Miller said. "It's an unsafe situation. Whether it's City dealing with it, or whether it's CSX dealing with it, somebody's got to take care of that."

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

FOX59/CBS4 followed up with CSX to ask whether an inspection was completed as requested by IMPD, and if they had any other explanations for why this is happening. A spokesperson just reiterated "the concrete is not falling from our bridge."




After this story first aired on FOX59/CBS4, a delivery driver reached out claiming to have seen a man perched near the top of the bridge "tossing stuff" at passing cars around noon Tuesday. He was advised to share the information with IMPD.





via: https://fox59.com/news/mysterious-falling-concrete-chunks-damage-cars-near-railway-bridge-drivers-say/