The University was forced to install a clearance barrier on the outside of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union walkway because trucks have repeatedly rammed it, gouging holes in the bottom of the walkway.

Over the past year, four trucks gouged the walkway roof as they drove through the Union’s driveway trying to either deliver supplies to the Union or the food court construction site, said Carol Strode, interim director of Facilities Planning and Management.

The clearance barrier, a metal beam jutting from the walkway, was installed last week along with signs of the height limitation to try and prevent trucks over 10 feet tall from passing under the walkway and damaging it, she said.

“We’re trying to make sure people are better notified of (the barrier),” Strode said. “So they’re aware that the clearance may be too low for the top of their truck.”

The University Police Department reported the incidents, and she said settlements for the damage inflicted on the walkway will be received from the individual trucks’ insurance companies.

The university also had to modify parking on the north side of the Union to allow access for trucks that are too tall to clear the walkway bridge.

Over Thanksgiving break workers changed the parking north of the Union so the spaces were horizontal rather than the previous diagonal, creating enough room for two-way traffic.

Workers also widened the north driveway entrance to allow trucks to enter and exit the Union’s loading docks without passing under the walkway, preventing further damage to the roof, Strode said.

“It accommodated both the traffic in and out,” she said.

Strode said the current damage to the plaster roof, some of which was temporarily covered with boards, will be repaired when the weather becomes consistently warmer.

“To work with plaster outside, it has to be 50 degrees or more consistently,” she said.