Bridge demolishes truck in downtown Lynn

A cold load ended up in a hot spot Wednesday afternoon after a collision with the commuter rail bridge at Silsbee and Mount Vernon streets demolished a Salem ice truck.Initial police reports indicated no one was hurt in the crash. Police responded to the crash at 3:40 p.m., and the collision’s impact buckled the truck’s sides and collapsed its roof.Lloyd Hilton of Lynn, sitting in Greater Lynn Senior Service’s Silsbee Street center a half block away from the bridge, heard the crash.”It sounded like a bomb – everyone heard it,” Hilton said.He said the truck’s driver gave away ice sacks inside the truck to pedestrians.”He was telling people ?take it – it’s only going to melt,'” said GLSS community programs director Marilyn Long.According to identification markings on the truck, the vehicle is owned by Salem-based Brito Refrigeration, Inc. A sign on Silsbee Street indicates the bridge has 11 feet of clearance, but Hilton and Long said trucks frequently collide with the structure.”They miss that sign all the time,” Long said.GLSS medical interpreter Anna Aires had parked her 2009 Honda Civic under the bridge only to find one side of the truck collapsed onto the car’s roof.”I couldn’t believe my eyes. It’s very scary – I’ll probably never park there again,” she said.Initial inspection determined Aires’ car is driveable.