‘Clanker’ balls to the rescue again: DelDOT installs orange balls to protect bridge

Today marks the first day of March Madness.

As basketballs are bouncing all across America, one road in Delaware has some new orange balls hanging from the sky to keep drivers and infrastructure safe.

The Chapel Street Railroad Bridge in Newark is only 12 feet tall and since 2005 there have been 60 reported incidents where trucks have gotten stuck under the bridge.

Every bridge strike could mean a major disruption on the busy rails that run through town.

“Clanker” balls were installed on the north side of the bridge and the south side balls will go up soon.

The clankers are a series of bright orange and heavy-duty plastic balls that hang at the clearance height down the street before the bridge.

The bridge will also get the same treatment as nearby Casho Mill Road with clankers, sensors, lights and a lot of warning signs.

Casho Mill Road was Delaware’s most frequently hit bridge but crashes have gone down significantly since the balls were installed in 2022.

DelDOT says their clankers at Milford and Delaware Park have worked well but it’s not perfect.

There have been instances where people driving trucks will hit the balls, slow down, look to see what happened but then continue to drive under the bridge anyway.

One popular theory among some is that a few of the strikes are by University of Delaware students who are moving in or out and they are not used to driving rental box trucks.

The clanker balls have been so successful in Delaware that other states have asked DelDOT about their creative solution.

Another set of clankers is scheduled to go up at Low Rail Bridge in Newport.