They keep saying a 38t wagon, but the picture in the article shows a 6 wheeler with hiab, loaded with concrete pipes.
Un camion de 38 tonnes serait à l’origine de l’effondrement du pont de Mirepoix-sur-Tarn limité aux 19 tonnes
Is that just a case of journalists using the wrong picture, or the wrong weight to get the OMFG reaction?
That wagon is not 38t, ok so it’ll be over the 19t limit for the bridge, but it doesn’t look overloaded to me. A load of concrete pipes is relatively light, I’d guess that with a Hiab fitted, it’ll be getting fairly close to it’s max gross. My French is pretty excrable, but I think it says that the driver and mate were locals, employed by a local firm so would know the bridge limit. Signing in France can be a bit haphazard, imho, for this kind of thing and you can easily be caught out by arriving at the bridge. Having missed the 1 sign before it, you can often be left with either reversing all the way back or chancing it. Although this one appears to have an alternative bridge at the other side of the village with a reasonable enough route to get to it if you do happen to get caught out.
My comiserations to those who were injured and the two who died (I think) 