Melbourne, Brevard County, FL

US-1 (South Harbor City Boulevard) Overpass over East Melbourne Avenue (Melbourne)

Clearance 11'7"

Clearance: 11'7" · The posted sign, twice over: it reads "11FT 7IN" on camera in the FOX 35 Orlando report (2026-09-01), and Spectrum News 13, reporting the February 2025 strikes on THIS bridge by name, describes "the 11-foot, 7-inch opening over Melbourne Avenue" (2025-02-13). ✓ corroborated
Carried: US-1 / South Harbor City Boulevard (state highway, built 1959)
Crosses: East Melbourne Avenue
Location: Melbourne, Brevard County, FL

✓ The FHWA National Bridge Inventory measures the underclearance at 3.57 m (11'8.5") on structure 12/700006 "US-1 OVER City St. & Crane Creek" (built 1959), 36 m from this crossing — about an inch and a half above the 11'7" posted, the usual margin. OpenStreetMap independently tags the East Melbourne Avenue way beneath the span maxheight=11'7" (way 1352400880).

Verified location (satellite + source imagery). Open full map → · Google Map Link

Reported strikes (since January 2025 (Fox 35 Orlando, reported 2026-09-01))

Incident records here

Fatalities

—

Injuries (confirmed counts)

Mitigation history: A 1959 US-1 overpass carrying South Harbor City Boulevard across East Melbourne Avenue and Crane Creek at the edge of downtown Melbourne. Struck 11 times since January 2025 despite flashing warning signs, bright paint and posted height markers; the Florida DOT has begun installing an ACTIVE warning system that detects over-height vehicles, and officials report no structural damage to the bridge so far. The city is weighing enforcement instead: Melbourne police say a driver who ignores the signs and gets stuck can be cited for careless driving, a $169 fine, and a council member has pushed for tickets to be issued and floated banning large trucks from the street altogether. IDENTITY, because one report gets it wrong: FOX 35's video summary calls this "a low railroad bridge", and it is not — it is the U.S. 1 highway bridge. The railroad bridge is a separate structure 150 m west, and it USED to be the low one (see fl/melbourne-avenue-fec-trestle). Spectrum News 13 names this span exactly — the Crane Creek U.S. 1 bridge — and gives the same 11'7" opening, and the NBI measurement fits it. The likeliest explanation for the error is history: until Brightline raised the trestle in 2022 the railroad bridge was the notorious one on this street, and the label stuck. CAUTION FOR ANYONE RE-PINNING THIS: East Melbourne Avenue passes under TWO structures about 150 m apart, and the other one is not this one — the Florida East Coast Railway bridge to the west is tagged 12'8" (OSM way 1352400695 x rail 96957621/892791010). The struck bridge is the lower US-1 span to the east.

169

USD careless-driving fine · FL · September 2026

Eleven strikes in twenty months, and Melbourne is working through the whole ladder at once. The signs, paint and height markers are already up. Florida DOT has begun installing an active system that detects an over-height vehicle before it reaches the span. Melbourne police say a driver who ignores the warnings and wedges under the bridge can be cited for careless driving — a $169 fine. And a city council member is pressing for those tickets to be written and has raised closing the street to large trucks: "Do we need to look at restriction of road use and things of that nature?" On the citations he was blunt: "Citations are used as deterrents. You're not just going to damage our infrastructure due to carelessness and get away with it Scott-free." Against the $150,000 a short-line railroad in South Carolina absorbed, and the $400,000 average Illinois DOT puts on an oversize-load strike, a $169 fine is the cheapest thing about a bridge strike.

Melbourne City Councilman David Neuman / Melbourne Police Department / Florida DOT, via FOX 35 Orlando needs review
FOX 35 Orlando · 2026-09-01

inches of extra clearance · FL · 2021–2026

Downtown Melbourne has two low bridges over one street, 150 metres apart. Until 2022 the railroad trestle was the one that ate trucks — a 1920s span hit hard enough in June 2021 that a segment had to be craned into place while steel beams held it up and trains ran overhead. Brightline then replaced it in a $17 million project that closed the road for a year, and the new span gives vehicles about 11 inches more room. It worked: the documented strikes since are not at the railroad bridge. They are at the U.S. 1 bridge next door, now the lowest thing on the street at 11 ft 7 in, struck 11 times since January 2025. This is the rarest finding in this record — a mitigation that succeeded — and it comes with the caveat that matters for every raise-the-bridge proposal: on a street with more than one low structure, raising the worst one relocates the problem rather than ending it.

Brightline, via FLORIDA TODAY needs review
FLORIDA TODAY (via Yahoo News) · 2022-06-29

View on map Report an incident

Incident history

11 strikes since January 2025 (reported September 1, 2026) Recurring strikes
Fox 35 Orlando reported on September 1, 2026 that the bridge had been struck 11 times since January 2025 — despite flashing warning signs, bright paint and clear height markers — with no structural damage to the span so far. A city council member: "It's surprising this keeps happening. One time is one too many and 11 times is 11 times too many."

Vehicle: Oversized trucks · Cause: Over-height vehicles on a downtown street beneath an 11'7" posted span.

Sources: FOX 35 Orlando (reporter Esther Bower)
The week of August 24, 2026 — Fox 35 reported it on September 1 as having happened "last week"; no exact date was given Clearance strike
A food truck became stuck under the bridge and had to be pulled out with a chain. Reported only as having happened "last week" in the September 1, 2026 Fox 35 piece, so the row carries a week rather than a date.

Vehicle: Food truck · Cause: Over-height vehicle wedged beneath the 11'7" span.

Sources: FOX 35 Orlando (reporter Esther Bower)
From about 7 p.m. Sunday, February 16, 2025, for up to two weeks Other
The repair closure that followed the two February 2025 strikes. FDOT had inspected the bridge's integrity and reopened the road temporarily on the Friday before shutting it again for the full repair.

FDOT closed East Melbourne Avenue in both directions and the southbound outside lane of the U.S. 1 bridge above, for repairs expected to take up to two weeks, with signed detours via Melbourne Court, East New Haven Avenue and Front Street. ·

Sources: Spectrum News 13 (Orlando)
Thursday afternoon, February 13, 2025 — less than 24 hours after the backhoe trailer Clearance strike
A box truck driver tried to pass under the bridge less than a day after the backhoe strike. The truck's top was slightly damaged and it pulled down part of the tarp that had been hung to protect the previous night's damage — a second strike on a span that was still being repaired from the first.

Vehicle: Box truck · Cause: The vehicle was too tall for the 11 ft 7 in opening.

Sources: Spectrum News 13 (Orlando)
Wednesday night, February 12, 2025 Clearance strike
A trailer hauling a backhoe struck the bridge and brought smashed concrete down onto East Melbourne Avenue, leaving a large debris pile — the heaviest damage recorded here. Crews worked late into the night clearing and patching it. A resident of the condo next to the bridge described the night as chaotic, with traffic pushed through the building's parking lot.

Vehicle: Trailer hauling a backhoe · East Melbourne Avenue was closed while a crew cleared the debris overnight and patched the damaged areas to secure them; a protective tarp was hung under the damage. · Cause: The load was too tall for the 11 ft 7 in opening.

Sources: Spectrum News 13 (Orlando)