Semi crashes into highway overpass, shuts down traffic
GIG HARBOR, Wash. -- A Sunday afternoon crash left a semi-truck lodged underneath the Olympic Drive overpass and backed up traffic on a portion of State Route 16 near Gig Harbor.
According to the Washington State Department of Transportation, the semi was heading westbound on SR-16 when the driver crashed into the Olympic Drive Overpass at roughly 1:15 p.m.
The truck became stuck under the bridge and sent concrete debris throughout the westbound lanes.
All westbound lanes were immediately closed to traffic while crews worked to clean the area. The overpass itself was also closed so WSDOT bridge engineers to assess the damage.
The semi was dislodged from the bridge and cleared from the road sometime after 2 p.m., and WSDOT officials say both the highway and the overpass should be open for traffic sometime Sunday evening
Until the road reopens, all westbound SR-16 traffic is being detoured through the Olympic Drive westbound exit and on-ramp, according to WSDOT.
The truck driver was not injured in the crash, according to Trooper Guy Gill of the Washington State Patrol.
According to the Washington State Department of Transportation, the semi was heading westbound on SR-16 when the driver crashed into the Olympic Drive Overpass at roughly 1:15 p.m.
The truck became stuck under the bridge and sent concrete debris throughout the westbound lanes.
All westbound lanes were immediately closed to traffic while crews worked to clean the area. The overpass itself was also closed so WSDOT bridge engineers to assess the damage.
The semi was dislodged from the bridge and cleared from the road sometime after 2 p.m., and WSDOT officials say both the highway and the overpass should be open for traffic sometime Sunday evening
Until the road reopens, all westbound SR-16 traffic is being detoured through the Olympic Drive westbound exit and on-ramp, according to WSDOT.
The truck driver was not injured in the crash, according to Trooper Guy Gill of the Washington State Patrol.
I think the picture is misleading, if that's all the damage there is then I don't see what the big deal is...
More pictures, please?
he wasn't injured?? he should be for such a stupid stunt - there are books of overpass clearance data, there are clearance signs posted - there is NO excuse for not doing his homework when preparing for his trip.
getting a semi out from under is easy. The powers that e make it harder than it should be. Let enough air out of tires ,then back up, re-inflate down the road.Â
The overpass was hit at 1:15 and cleared 45 minutes later. Dosen't sound to bad to me. What was he transporting? Sounds like a piece of heavy equiptment . That's why they make tape measures. Yo dummy !!! measure the load height before you move. The overpass has a small scrape on it by the picture provided. Go look at most of the overpasses around here and they will tell the same story. Thank god for the DOT looking out for the saftey of the motoring public because now I can rest easy that nobody will fall off the road since they spent the time to inspect it on a sunday $$$$. I'm sure they took their time to make sure it's ok.
@glideman we drove by right after it had happened It was huge concrete I like like a drain or catch basin Â
@glideman Yeah looks like a minor hit with probably an excavator that didn't have the boom properly secured. All those overpasses are 15 feet and more so if he was hauling anything bigger than that he would have had an oversize permit and he would not have been routed that way.
@Blindman @glideman Exactly. Maybe without a permit on a sunday? Not saying I've ever done that before. Just read about it Should have tucked the stick a little closer to the boom and curled it up tight. I guess you have to be just a bit smarter than the load ya think?
Hey KOMO! Maybe you can do some crackpot investigative reporting about the WSDOT employees where were enjoying their weekend with their families and were called out to safely close the highway. And the engineers coming from Olympia to evaluate the damage. And all the work done so maybe, just maybe, this won't affect an uncaring public's morning commute. And if significant damage occurred, maybe you could do a story how they design, fund and construct the repairs in as short a time possible! Oh, wait a minute That's not sexy. That won't sell papers.
@gscott Maybe they should say how it's funded too... by tax payers usually, and not the company that screwed up and didn't measure their load to make sure they can fit under the overpass.
Hope the driver or his insurance pays the cost of him not knowing he was to tall for the underpass.
@Norma J Todd You bet they will pay for it. Probably loose there anual permit as well for hauling oversize loads.
@glideman @Norma J Todd Magicalwoman, you're up!
@Rockberry @glideman @Norma J Todd One of my pet peeves is when people finish their post with "just saying".
"Too" tall!!! One of my pet peeves is when people don't know how and when to use to, two, too and your, you're. Just saying.
You forgot "There, They're and Their (and it's NOT Thier!)".
If you're going to be the grammar-cop, please cover all the most commonly misused homophones. Also, I believe your sentence structure is incorrect; you should have included a comma and quatation marks.Â
@Magicalwoman to heads are two many,too have . ROFLMAO Â
@Magicalwoman Really Magicalwoman? Do you think people wouldn't be able to understand what Norma meant? If you're having difficulty, I'm sure someone could explain it to you. It might be your pet peeve, but you still don't have any business correcting anyone else's grammar.
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Looks superficial to me given the fact that these overpasses are required to have rebar and also tensioned at the approaches to said overpass. IMHO ( and it doesn't matter here ) I see ZERO need to keep this overpass closed for hours to asess damage that is very minor and likely to result in NO serious threat to traffic flowing by underneath @ 70 mph (sarc)
@BrodyRodyPartDeux Hmm ... you can assess the damage to a concrete structure from a photograph? You're a better engineer than I am. There can and sometimes is significant damage to structures with impacts from vehicles where the superficial damage does not seem that bad. That is why engineers are used to assess damages based on more than a few cracks in concrete.
Would you like to pay the multi-million dollar lawsuit to the family of a person or persons a large chunk of overpass falls on because the DOT determined, based on a few cracks and no further investigation, the the road was safe?Â
@BrodyRodyPartDeux Yes, we should go ahead and rely on your expert opinion. Phtphth!
@BrodyRodyPartDeux Hey state workers need to milk this for all it is worth! Were is your heart man! it is bad enough that state workers have to lift paper and leach off the tax payer for over payed jobs. lets not denie them Free over time on sunday.
Anyone here know which local overpasses get hit the most? Â I think the footbridges over Mountlake look rather scarred.
@cheekygesturton The ones where over height vehicles make contact DUH!!!
He had two extra lbs of air in his tires.
Another causality of trucker GPS?Â