Posted on 12/07/2007 5:01:57 PM PST by Extremely Extreme Extremist
Expressway Was Shut Down In Both Directions; Northbound Lanes Won't Open Until Monday
CHICAGO (CBS) ― A bridge overpass sustained severe damage when a dump truck ran into it on the Bishop Ford Freeway late Friday morning. Engineers are still on the scene trying to figure out how they're going to fix it, so they can get southbound traffic moving again.
The crash happened around 10:30 a.m. on the inbound side of the expressway 115th Street. The dump truck bed rose up and knocked the bridge deck out of alignment. Gravel spilled onto the pavement.
Traffic was stopped in the inbound lanes at 130th Street and outbound lanes at 115th Street for about three hours. By 1:30 p.m., the outbound lanes were reopened, but the inbound lanes remained closed. Traffic was being routed off at 115th Street and back on the expressway at 111th Street.
"People are lucky to have gotten out of this alive," said Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford said.
An overhead view of the scene gives the best view of just why this accident shut down traffic. The truck actually knocked the bridge out of line when the bed ran into it. From the freeway, looking up, you can see cracked concrete on the bottom of the bridge.
The truck, owned by the Cicero-based Cartage Truck Company, was passing under the bridge when the bed of the truck started rising.
Sara Wilson, an IDOT spokesperson, says she's seen a few trucks hit bridges over the years, but she's never seen a truck actually move a bridge. In this case, the collision rotated the bridge and shifted it six to nine inches.
"It's bed came up and struck the south facial actually getting wedged under the bridge -- lifting it up both horizontally and pushing it laterally," Wilson said. "The south facial has been destroyed; the beams were shifted at that point, so that connection has been damdaged and that's what we're focusing on."
Motorist Carlos Sinaloa was driving the red Chevy right behind the dump truck. He says he tried to stop, but couldn't.So he plowed into the gravel that spilled from the truck.
"They'll do something to secure bridge so they can open to traffic," said Fire Media Affairs Director Larry Langford. "That won't happen until Monday. Bridge won't be open to traffic for a while."
Another red car hit what was left of the dump truck, but the gravel acted as a buffer to keep the impact light, Langford said.
Langford said the driver of the vehicle was taken in good condition to Stroger Hospital. A father and a son were in the red car, and both refused medical treatment.
The rear wheels of the dump truck rolled off and continued through the underpass, stopping about 50 feet past it, Langford said. The truck was left sitting in the median, and firefighters and Illinois Department of Transportation crews were working to clean the fuel that was spilling out of it, he said.
The bridge sustained severe damage to its girders, Langford said.
"This is not a quick one. This is going to be like it for some time. The IDOT people tell me they have to have engineers come out. There's going to have to be some major repair work done on this bridge," Langford said.
It will be necessary to temporarily close the outbound Bishop Ford when the dump truck that struck the structure is extricated, IDOT officials said. The timing of this has not been determined.
IDOT warns drivers that major delays are still expected during the rush hour on the outbound Bishop Ford. Alternative routes include the Chicago Skyway, Interstate 57, and Halsted Street.
I’ll write my congressman immediately. This is an outrage to all true conservatives, I guess.
A few years back a fuel tanker truck traveling at high speed crashed into the support columns of an overpass not far from my office. The tanker spilled lots of fuel on the ground, but fortunately didn’t ignite. The truck driver who had multiple previous driving violations got zotted, but no one else was hurt. It took seveal months and over a quarter million dollars to replace the damaged columns on that overpass. Fortunately not much traffic actually travels over that overpass, so it didn’t cause much disruption once the overpass was shored up to prvent its collapse.
Bush’s fault...
Billions for war, but nothing for driver training.
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