Tuesday, January 27, 2015

A LOGGING TRUCK OVERTURNED ON A SECTION OF BRANDERS BRIDGE ROAD IN CHESTER ON MONDAY MORNING, SPILLING DIESEL. RESIDENTS COMPLAIN FOR UNSAFE ROAD CONDITIONS, BUT DOT SAYS THAT DRIVERS ARE TO BLAME




A LOGGING TRUCK OVERTURNED ON A SECTION OF BRANDERS BRIDGE ROAD IN CHESTER ON MONDAY MORNING, SPILLING DIESEL.  RESIDENTS COMPLAIN FOR UNSAFE ROAD CONDITIONS, BUT DOT SAYS THAT DRIVERS ARE TO BLAME

JANUARY 26, 2015



A logging truck overturned on a section of Branders Bridge Road in Chester on Monday morning. (Source: NBC12)

CHESTERFIELD, VA (WWBT) -
Branders Bridge road is reopened after a rough start Monday morning. 

A truck went off the roadway and then overturned on the shoulder. Residents say this is a symptom of a larger problem and something needs to be done.

Mary Holt woke up to a flipped logging truck outside her home Monday, and she says it isn't the first time its happened. 

"This is the fourth time we've had trucks get off into this ditch," she said.
Holt says four times in four months, but this one was too close for comfort.
"It just missed it by inches, I mean the electrical power lines could've come down on the truck," she said.

Investigators say the truck overturned and spilled diesel. The road was closed down for six hours while crews worked to clean up the mess. The driver was taken to the hospital, but is expected to be okay.

Some think Monday's crash has more to do with the road than those driving on it. "Cars would be driving there and would slip out around that spot and then get back on the road," said one man who works in the area.

The Virginia Department of Transportation says more than 2,700 vehicles travel this section of Branders Bridge every day.  

The department says from November 2011 to 2014, 41-crashes were reported in that vicinity. Douglas Brewster lives nearby and has been in the logging business for decades. He says the responsibility falls to the drivers.


"It is a road that has a certain amount of risk on it and requires some careful driving," Brewster said.

VDOT is scheduled to be back out to fix the shoulder after Monday's accident, but residents hope it's the first step to fix what they call larger problems on Branders Bridge. VDOT says traffic engineering department will assess the scene in the next few weeks. They could make possible recommendations based on that review.