Delaware

Tractor-trailers hitting Delaware County bridges disrupt business, delay trains

Published

2 years ago

January 21, 2024

Tractor-trailers hitting Delaware County bridges disrupt business, delay trains

PROSPECT PARK, Pa. (CBS) – Salvatore Mini was at work on Jan. 4 when his surveillance camera captured a tractor-trailer hitting the railroad bridge outside his store.

Mini is the owner of Mini Reef, an aquarium store at Route 420 and Maryland Avenue in Prospect Park.

“That was a good hit. It was a loud bang,” Mini said. “It actually shook the building.”

The driver was able to back up, but the crash sheared off the top of the truck. The road was shut down for two hours, making it hard for customers to get to Mini’s store. Over time, those lost sales add up.

“It hurts. I mean, when you’re a small business, you depend on literally every customer who walks in that door,” Mini said. “So if I lose just one sale, I can feel it.”

The borough of Prospect Park is searching for a solution to the decades-old problem of oversize trucks hitting the railroad bridge. It creates problems for drivers and Amtrak passengers.

Prospect Park Police Chief Dave Madonna says there have been 21 bridge strikes over the last two years, despite clear signs saying the clearance is 12 feet 6 inches.

“In the vast majority of times, these are truckers who are either not paying attention to the sign or perhaps don’t even know the full height of their rig,” Madonna said.

Police cite the drivers for failing to obey signs. Then Amtrak, which owns this bridge, sends a bill to the trucking company for repairs and delays on the Northeast corridor.

“Unless you make this a no-truck street or with some kind of indicators out there, I think they’re just going to keep doing it,” Mini said.

In a statement, PennDOT said, in part, “Amtrak could possibly work with the local municipality to install a warning system to prevent substantial damage to their bridge structure.”

But Amtrak said: “Warning signs/systems upgrades are the responsibility of the road owner, not the railroad.”

“This issue intersects with federal, state and local officials here. We can’t take it on all by ourself. I think all these stakeholders need to come to the table and we need to find a solution,” Madonna said.

Radnor has a similar problem on the King of Prussia Bridge, with a clearance of just 10 feet 10 inches.

The township is in the process of installing a dangling metal sign before the bridge so that if a truck hits it, it’ll alert the driver to stop and turn around.

There are other types of warning systems out there, including infrared beams that can send a wireless signal that triggers flashing lights to alert drivers that their truck is too tall.

People in Prospect Park believe either one of these options would work.

“We’re all small businesses here on the street,” Mini said. “So it affects every one of us,” Mini said.

Madeleine Wright

Madeleine Wright is a bilingual general assignment reporter for CBS News Philadelphia. She joined the team in January 2022.

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Delaware

Delaware history in News Journal March 1-7: Fire rescue, power rate jump

Published

12 hours ago

February 28, 2026

Press Room

Delaware history in News Journal March 1-7: Fire rescue, power rate jump

Delaware history from The News Journal archives March 1-7 includes woman, baby and dog rescued from burning a home in 1926.
Prisoners sue state over conditions at Sussex Correctional Institution in 1976.
Jump in electric rates in 2006 sparks talks of reregulating the industry.

“Pages of history” features excerpts from The News Journal archives including The Morning News and The Evening Journal. See the archives at delawareonline.com.

March 1, 2006, The News Journal

Under plan, 59% electric rate hike to be phased in

Delmarva Power has proposed phasing in electricity rate increases to reduce the shock of a 59% price hike for residents scheduled to begin May 1.

If the proposal is approved by the state, the typical residential bill would go up slightly less than $18 a month on May 1. Then on Jan. 1, the typical bill would go up again by the same amount. On May 1, 2007, a last increase of $34 would be added, assuming no other change in the market price for electricity. …

Delmarva Power officials unveiled the proposal Tuesday as part of a response to an executive order issued last month by Gov. Ruth Ann Minner. She asked state agencies to study possible responses to the rate hike, including the option of reregulating the industry.

In 1999, state lawmakers removed controls on the price of wholesale electricity, reshaping the power market in the state. As part of the change, electricity rates were lowered by 7.5% until 2003.

Delmarva Power says the coming 59% increase is mainly caused by price hikes in the cost of the fuels that generate electricity, such as natural gas and coal.

Under deregulation, Delmarva must buy about one-third of its total power needs on the wholesale market every year. If the wholesale market is lower next year, customers could save some money. If the wholesale market is up, then rates could go even higher than they are currently expected to go….

Deregulation was expected to reduce electricity prices by bringing competition to the electric market, but only the largest power customers in the state are able to shop for power. Residents do not have a choice about who supplies their electricity.

Some lawmakers are calling for the state to reregulate the industry….

Reregulating part or all of the electricity market is unlikely to have any impact on the 59% rises in bills, experts say, but could prevent dramatic price spikes in the future….

March 3, 1976, The Morning News page

Sussex prison dilemma prompts judicial warning

If the General Assembly doesn’t do something soon about the crumbling Sussex Correctional Institution, he will, a federal judge strongly hinted yesterday.

Judge Murray M. Schwartz said he frankly hopes lawmakers will come up with the extra $1.6 million needed for a thorough overhaul of the Georgetown prison this month.

If they do, he said, it probably will “wash out” the inmates’ suit to close the prison. Schwartz is hearing the suit now, but isn’t expected to make a ruling for several months.

Should he find that the “legislature has abdicated its responsibilities [to the prison],” Schwartz warned, “then that has opened up a hole the federal court will have to fill.”

The state earmarked $2 million from a bond issue for Sussex prison renovation, but the base construction bid opened in January was $2.8 million. With alternate improvements officials want, the cost would rise to $3.4 million.

Acting Correction Commissioner Paul Keve, a defendant in the inmates’ suit, said it “looks very hopeful” that $1.6 million originally appropriated for another prison project will be reallocated to the Sussex work….

Several times yesterday, Schwartz expressed puzzlement over the state’s defense to the suit which seemed to be, “Yes, Sussex is bad, but we’re going to improve it,” the judge remarked.

The improvements are part of the defense, replied Deputy Atty. Gen. John Willard. But he said he would also contend the prison’s deficiencies aren’t an unconstitutional denial of due process or cruel and unusual punishment, as the inmates claim.

The prison’s 45-year-old main building “defeats efforts to improve it in a superficial way,” Keve said, and demands instead a “drastic, complete, comprehensive” renovation.

He said a new kitchen is most urgently needed, but the plans also call for complete replacement of the plumbing, electrical and heating systems, construction of a gymnasium, medical-dental suite and space for classrooms and group discussions.

Prisoners have complained of a lack of rehabilitation programs….

March 6, 1926, The Evening Journal

Woman, baby, dog rescued from burning home

Mary Anderson … and a year-old baby were carried from the burning house at 4 W. 12th St. in Wilmington this morning. …

The fire, which originated in the chimney of the house, caused a spectacular blaze that destroyed the roof and damaged the interior of the dwelling, and drew a large crowd.

Trolley traffic on Market Street was tied up for 20 minutes or more. Long lines of cars from the Boulevard, Washington, Shellpot and Darby lines blocked both tracks for two squares or more, owing to the lines of fire hose that were stretched across Market Street.

The fire was first discovered by Mrs. Anderson who was in the house with the year-old baby of Margaret Thomas who was at work. Smelling smoke, Mrs. Anderson went to the second floor and seeing a flame around the stove pipe hole in the chimney, threw water on it. Thinking she had extinguished the fire, she started downstairs.

In the meantime, the blaze broke out around the edge of the roof and the smoke was seen by John Wright and Stanley Pletuszka, who were in the office of the Pittsburg Independent Oil Company at 12th and Market streets.

Wright ran to the fire alarm box at 13th and King streets and turned in an alarm to which Engine Companies 1,7 and 10 and Truck Company 1 responded.

Pletuszka ran to the house where he was joined by Lloyd Smith of West 13th Street. Finding the door fastened and knowing that Mrs. Anderson and the baby were in the house, they broke down the door.

They met Mrs. Anderson coming downstairs and when an attempt was made to get her to leave, she refused, insisting that the fire was out. The rescuers had to carry the woman from the burning building, then returning they found the baby in the lower part of the house and carried it to the home of a neighbor where the baby and the woman were cared for.

Herbert Johnson, son of Mrs. Anderson of Orange Street, hearing that his mother’s home was on fire, hurried there and with other men saved practically all of the furniture in the house. A small dog, owned by Mrs. Anderson, was rescued by Johnson, but a larger dog defied the efforts of other men to take it from the house. …

The firemen prevented the spread of the fire by deluging the building with water, the chemical streams first used being found insufficient to check the fire. …

The loss is estimated at $800.

Reach reporter Ben Mace at rmace@gannett.com.

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Delaware

Elon Musk-Led Overhaul of Delaware Business Law Upheld by State Court

Published

24 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

Elon Musk-Led Overhaul of Delaware Business Law Upheld by State Court

The Delaware Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of an Elon Musk-inspired overhaul of state law that governs most major US corporations, handing a win to company founders, insiders and private equity owners who sought less restrictive business rules.

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