The Norfolk Southern–Gregson Street Overpass is commonly known as the 11-foot-8 Bridge and… The Can Opener. But more on that later. This railroad bridge in Durham, North Carolina, was built in 1940 and allows passenger and freight trains to cross over South Gregson Street in downtown Durham and like its first nickname suggests, its clearance for vehicles was 11 feet 8 inches (3.56 m). This was a standard height at the time it opened. But the standard clearance since 1973 has a minimum height of 14 feet (4.27 m).
Despite numerous warning signs yelling just how low the clearance of this bridge was, a large number of trucks, buses, and RVs have collided with the overpass at high speed, tearing off roof fixtures, and at times shearing off the trucks’ roofs. That’s what earned the bridge its second nickname, The Can Opener. Some people even call it the “Gregson Street Guillotine”. In October 2019, the North Carolina Railroad Company, which owns the bridge and tracks, raised the bridge by 8 inches (0.2 m) to 12 feet 4 inches (3.76 m) to reduce collisions.
The bridge gained fame in 2008, when a nearby office worker, Jürgen Henn, set up cameras to track the collisions with the bridge. As of October 2020, Henn has recorded over 150 accidents, and has a YouTube channel to showcase them. His project even expanded to other Internet platforms. Thus, the subreddit r/11foot8 was born.
Eventually, however, the subreddit evolved—it now features vehicles colliding with structures all over the world. Here are some of its top posts.
#1 Separation Anxiety
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#2 Irony?
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#3 Thought This Fit Well Here
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#4 New Mini Golf In Durham Honors It’s Famous 11’8″ Bridge
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#5 You See What Happens When You Rush To Be In Somebody Else’s Business
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#6 Hungry Bridge In Enid, Oklahoma
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#7 I Too Take The Top Off My Oreos Before I Eat Them
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#8 VW Crash
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#9 Delivering A Bridge
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#10 Gotta Get The Packages Onboard As Quickly As Possible!
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#11 What Makes It Funnier Is That This Isn’t Even The Route The Bus Is Meant To Take
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#12 Found On Street View
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#13 He Made It All The Way Through
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#14 U Are Stuck
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#15 Meanwhile In Chicago
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#16 Pretty Effective Bridge Protection!
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#17 I Work For FedEx. One Of Our Trucks Came In Like This
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#18 When You Take The Bridge With
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#19 I Don’t Understand People. “Oh This Truck Is About To Hit That Sign, Let Me Just Continue Follow Him”
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#20 If The Bridge It Is Too Low, You Don’t Have To Take It Slow. Lay The Truck Down On The Side, Underneath The Bridge You’ll Slide
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#21 11foot8 In Indianapolis. Truck Was Full Of Cream Cheese
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#22 I Fought The Bridge And The Bridge Won
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#23 Fail
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#24 Square Peg In A Round Hole
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#25 The Biggest Oof I’ve Ever Seen!
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#26 This Low Overpass Knocked The Streetview Camera Off Its Mount
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#27 Scalped! A Whole Level Beyond Can Opener!
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#28 “No Pictures! Don’t Laugh!”
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#29 Well Known Can Opener In Kansas City, MO
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#30 Brand New Jeep
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