Garbage Truck Crashes Into Streetcar

The Hop streetcar vehicle after being struck by private garbage truck. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

A private garbage truck collided with a streetcar in downtown Milwaukee early Monday morning, substantially damaging the streetcar vehicle and suspending service on The Hop system.

The crash happened at approximately 6:30 a.m. An Eagle Disposal garbage truck was traveling west on E. Wells St. when it collided with the front of a northbound streetcar on N. Milwaukee St.

A security camera video provided to Urban Milwaukee by management of the Colby Abbot Building shows the streetcar entering the intersection with a green light. The garbage truck appears from offscreen, striking the streetcar.

A Department of Public Works spokesperson said there were no passengers on board the vehicle during the early morning collision. The system’s ridership has been rebounding since the pandemic’s onset. A total of 1,114 rides per day were recorded in February, nearly double the 2022 total and triple that of 2021.

A DPW official said the department believes there were two people in the privately-owned garbage truck.

Streetcar service was still suspended at 9:45 a.m., but a tow truck from AM Towing had pulled the garbage truck from the scene. The streetcar, which was knocked across the southbound travel and parking lanes, knocked over a traffic light and showed visible damage to the operator cab at the front of the vehicle.

Each of the city’s five streetcars are 67 feet long and weigh 83,000 pounds.

The intersection where the collision occurred is one of several on the route where a location-based system triggers the traffic lights to change to allow the streetcar through without needing to wait at the light. The system does not cause the lights to flip immediately and instead extends green lights or initiates a yellow-to-red progression.

It is the first major collision for the streetcar system, which launched in November 2018. The system suffered its first direct collision with a vehicle in February 2020. That collision did not push the vehicle off the tracks.

UPDATE: Streetcar service resumed early Monday evening after the streetcar was lifted back onto the track by three tow trucks. The vehicle, with a police escort, drove backwards on the track under its own power to the maintenance facility.

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