1 CONSTRUCTION WORKER DEAD, 1 TRUCK DRIVER INJURED IN CINCINNATI, OHIO OVERPASS DEMOLITION TRAGEDY
JANUARY 20, 2015
CINCINNATI (AP) — The Cincinnati police chief urged morning commuters to plan ahead Tuesday after an interstate overpass undergoing demolition collapsed, killing one person and injuring another.
Drivers should stay away from the collapsed overpass north of downtown Cincinnati and leave with plenty of time to get to work, chief Jeff Blackwell said after Monday night’s accident.
Authorities say a construction worker was killed and a tractor-trailer driver injured when the Interstate 75 overpass collapsed about 10:30 p.m. Monday.
Blackwell called it a workplace accident, saying crews were taking down an old bridge when something went “terribly wrong.”
The truck driver was taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center with minor injuries.
“The big-rig driver is very lucky; in a matter of seconds his fate would have probably been different,” Blackwell said.
Fire officials said the tractor-trailer struck the collapsed section as the bridge hit the ground. They said the construction worker was killed in the collapse. His name was not immediately released.
Blackwell said the city will work with the Department of Transportation to figure out what happened. He said several hundred tons of concrete had to be removed from the road.
The southbound lanes of I-75 would be closed for at least 48 hours, officials said.
The accident is also causing buses that use I-75 and nearby streets to be rerouted.
A witness told WLWT5 that he heard “a real big boom” and then a couple of seconds later he saw police cars rushing to the scene.
//________________________________________________//
The city said it would launch an investigation of what caused the collapse. According to an Enquirer review of federal bridge inspection data, the bridge did not appear to have any structural problems.
"What appears to have happened is, in essence, an industrial incident -- a workplace incident with respect to a construction crew that's doing work out here," city manager Harry Black said. "Something went wrong, and a tragedy has occurred as a result."
Emergency crews extricated the man's body sometime around 3 a.m. Tuesday. They had to use airbags to lift the wreckage off of him, according to Cincinnati police and fire.
Crystal Hargett, of Bracken County, said she got a phone call shortly after 10:30 p.m. from her husband, Billy, saying that he had just lost his best friend. Billy Hargett was on top of the old overpass with the victim minutes before the collapse. He'd just walked away from the bridge when he turned and saw the collapse. He rushed over to try, unsuccessfully, to save the victim.
"Billy said he just pulled his brother out," Hargett said through tears. "They were so close that [Billy] called him his brother. They drove to work together every day."
Hargett said the victim's mother, fiance and 14-year-old daughter were all at the scene early Tuesday morning. Three more children slept at home.
"You're looking at three children under the age of 9 at home in Kentucky that are going to wake up looking for their daddy," Hargett said. "And his fiance, they were high school sweethearts. It's heartbreaking."
The victim and Billy Hargett were a part of a crew that normally worked during the day, Crystal Hargett said. Demolition work on the old Hopple Street bridge brought them to a nighttime shift this week.
"They shouldn't have been out there this week," Hargett said.
Police declined to release the name of the victim early Tuesday, pending full notification of family.
"Crews are working now to determine a plan of action to remove the worker," Cincinnati police said shortly after midnight. "It will be a long operation."
A second person -- a semi-tractor trailer driver -- was taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center with minor injuries.
"I can tell you that the big rig driver -- the semi driver is very lucky," said Cincinnati Police Chief Jeffrey Blackwell. "In a matter of seconds his fate would have probably been different."
Over the course of the night, dozens of onlookers had stopped their cars on the new Hopple Street bridge, on the shoulder of the interstate or on a nearby off ramp. More than two dozen construction workers, who were still wearing their reflective vests and helmets, lingered at the scene at 1 a.m.
When Bill Tieke heard the news of a major bridge collapse he drove to the scene immediately, despite it being close to midnight. Tieke, of Cincinnati, ran heavy equipment in the Army and for the city for 30 years.
"I don't know how this could have happened," Tieke said. "Accidents happen. I've knocked down a building before, but I've still never seen something like this."
Brett Bartling, who's a demolition contractor and firefighter in Delhi Township, also went to the scene.
"An egregious error or an engineering miscalucation? Maybe a combination of both," Bartling said as he overlooked the scene from atop the new Hopple Street overpass.
"It's unreal. The fortunate thing is this didn't happen during the day, or it could've been a lot worse."
Officials said they were launching an investigation into the bridge's ratings.
Initial investigations reveals that an excavator was being operated on top of the bridge, but officials are still working to determine what triggered the collapse.
Southbound I-75 will be closed until at least late Wednesday. The city tweeted: "Plan ahead, leave early, expect delays."
"This will be a mess. It's not could or should. It will be," Blackwell said of the Tuesday morning commute.
Enquirer reporter Jason Williams contributed to this report.