By Alex Fees

St. Louis (KSDK) - St. Louis officials are investigating a railroad trestle after a husband and wife saw their windshield shatter in front of them.

It happened while driving on Southwest Avenue, just west of McCausland Saturday morning.

"We approached the train overpass and suddenly the windshield shattered. And my wife said, 'Richard, what's happening? What's happening," said Richard Shields.

He showed a Newschannel 5 crew damage to his car Thursday.

"The windshield shattered right here, approximately softball size," he said. He walked back to the left front fender of the car. "The fiber glass panel right here is cracked."

NewsChannel 5's Alex Fees noticed there are rocks visible in the middle of Southwest Avenue beneath the bridge. Rocks are also piled up along the curb. While you cannot see any daylight or holes on the bottom of the bridge, the stones in the street match those on top of the overpass. There is also a huge divot in the rocks on top of the bridge, between the railroad tracks.

Shields fears their experience could have been much worse.

"If a person would've been going by in a convertible or on a motorcycle, it could've been fatal," he said.

Shields called the St. Louis Citizen's Service Bureau. NewsChannel 5 obtained a case number from him, and followed up.

Later NewsChannel 5 received a call from St. Louis Streets Director Todd Waelterman. His investigators looked into what happened, including the divot in the rocks on top of the bridge, which Newschannel 5 notified them about.

"It appears the railroad had a failure, some cause here. We're going to document it for the citizen, get it cleaned up, and try to figure out what's going on here so we can prevent it from happening again," said Waelterman.

The St. Louis Citizens' Service Bureau can be reached at 314-622-4800. The best way to reach NewsChannel 5 is by sending an e-mail to newstips@ksdk.com.

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