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A railroad bridge over West Peace Street is technically slightly higher than its posted clearance of 12 feet and 4 inches, according to the city of Raleigh.
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That hasn’t stopped five vehicles from scraping or wrecking into the “Peace Street Peeler” over the past two months, including two semi-trucks on a single day in July.
The recent bridge strikes are not a new occurrence. The bridge — running north-south over Peace Street between Glenwood Avenue and West Street — is over 70 years old. Crashes have been happening since the 1960s, according to The News & Observer’s newsgathering partner ABC11.
The owner of the bridge installed a “sacrificial” metal plate to the bottom of the bridge to prevent damage, according to city spokesperson Julia Milstead.
Now, the city is taking some additional measures to warn drivers.
The posted height on signs is already reduced to account for a hill on Peace Street on the eastern side of the bridge. The hill isn’t directly under the bridge, but it does force longer trucks to ride higher as they pass under it.
Raleigh can’t raise the bridge because the railways own the right-of-way, according to the city.
The city considered height detection sensors to give trucks a more direct warning, but that option was ruled out “due to poor performance and low efficacy in other municipalities,” according to the city manager’s report.
“After researching crash detection sensors that trigger flashing lights and talking with our counterparts in Durham who noted it did not prevent crashes, we felt our limited funding was best spent on other safety measures,” Milstead wrote in an email to The N&O on Monday.
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Now, the city is trying to overhaul its signage to improve visibility and redirect taller vehicles.
While there are already flashing yellow lights before the bridge, Raleigh plans to install new “high-visibility” signs with LED lights that are significantly brighter than existing lights. It will take some time for the new signs to get here, however.
The city doesn’t have a timeline for their installation because of the “unpredictability of shipping and availability of materials,” Milstead said.
Meanwhile, the city is replacing older signs and flashing lights with newer standard models, which Milstead said should take a couple of weeks.
And the city is putting new warning signs at the intersection of West and Peace — to the west of the bridge — and on southbound Glenwood Avenue.
The city will also install new detour signs to help trucks safely avoid the bridge.
The cost of the measures is not yet known. The city is waiting on quotes for some of the required items, and others are coming from the city’s inventory, according to Milstead.
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She said the city would provide a cost when that number is available.
This story was originally published August 31, 2026 at 3:13 PM.