Truck crash sends metal flying
No one seriously injured, but highway closed for weekend to fix guardrail
A bizarre crash Friday morning that sent a giant piece of metal through a car windshield prompted the closure this weekend of northbound Interstate 69 at the Loop 610 so workers can repair a guardrail.
No one was seriously injured in the incident, but a guardrail was mangled when a heavy truck struck an overpass.
Lanes on both freeways were closed most of Friday as crews cleaned up from the crash around 8:45 a.m. Officials said they believe the dump truck slammed into the Loop 610 overpass — with a listed height of 16 feet, 5 inches — when the hydraulic lift for its bed raised at some point as the driver proceeded along northbound I-69, also U.S. 59 in the Houston area.
Nowhere close to being able to travel under the bridge with the load raised, the truck plowed into the guardrail along eastbound Loop 610, crumbling it, breaking off chunks of the overpass and sending pieces of the truck flying, said Danny Perez, spokesman for the Texas Department of Transportation in Houston.
A piece of metal that appeared to be around 6 feet long and 12 inches wide broke off the truck and either skipped across eastbound Loop 610 or tumbled through the air before striking through the windshield of a hatchback westbound on Loop 610.
“Thankfully there were no serious injuries or a fatality situation,” Perez said, noting the metal pierced the car on the passenger side.
The truck’s 34-year-old driver also appeared uninjured at the scene. He stood outside of the truck on the closed highway, talking to police officers Friday morning.
“He will be cited,” Houston police spokesman John Cannon said.
Cannon said police expected to issue some violations, ranging from improper securing of a load to failure to properly operate a trailer.
TxDOT will also seek remuneration for costs associated with the crash.
The railing on Loop 610 was so severely damaged that Perez said TxDOT will do an emergency closure this weekend to repair it. The outer eastbound lane on Loop 610 will also close during the repairs.
Perez said it will reopen by 5 a.m. Monday, or sooner if work can be completed quicker.
An estimate of the work’s total cost was unavailable Friday, as crews were still assessing exactly how significant the railing repairs needed to be, Perez said. The closing involves a detour, which also means TxDOT must pay for police resources related to handling traffic. The longer the work takes, the higher associated costs rise.
Structurally, the overpass wasn’t damaged, only the guardrail, at least avoiding a much more costly outcome that’s become all too common in Houston. In September, a similar strike along Interstate 45 at West Dallas led engineers to declare the bridge unsafe and TxDOT opted to replace it. The replacement caused a major traffic hassle along West Dallas and led to weekend closings of I-45 that complicated downtown trips.
Last month, during a single day, TxDOT and local police responded to incidents where taller-than-typical loads struck both the Houston Avenue and Waco overpasses spanning Interstate 10.
Overall, the Houston area is on pace for double the number of major heavy truck accidents in 2017, compared with 2013, based on Houston TranStar reports. For the first four months of the year, TranStar logged 171 heavy truck accidents that led to injuries or significant delays and property damage. That’s more than the previous high of 165 in 2015, and more than double the 84 reported in 2013.