Truck Carrying 70K Pounds Hits Cable Barrier

June 14, 2011

Des Moines, Iowa --

 

Without a doubt, state troopers said the semi crash could have been much worse.

 

"We had several witnesses that identified him as coming across and at the time when he was coming across there was 2 to 3 semis and passenger cars right in that same location," said trooper Griggs.

 

Officials said the UPS truck driver died from a medical condition that caused him to loose control and later die.

 

Officials said that without the cable barriers, more lives could have been at stake.

 

"Without the cable barriers being present he either would have had a head-on collision with other vehicles or he would have entered the northbound lanes and ended up in the east ditch," said Griggs.

 

The crash destroyed 27 cable barrier posts, which have been replaced.  The barrier helped slow down the semi.

 

Department of Transportation safety engineers said the crash is just one more example of how the barrier is working, and not the first time a semi has been stopped from crossing the median.

 

"Wherever we've installed these cable barriers, we've eliminated the cross median crash problem that we had previously," said Chris Poole, a DOT safety engineer.

 

The DOT is installing more barriers across Interstate 80 this summer.

 

"By the end of the year, we hope to have I-80 covered from Des Moines all the way to the Illinois border," said Poole.

 

Iowa is the only state putting in more cable barriers.  Poole said several states across the country see the benefit the barriers provided in preventing the cross over crashes and are installing the cables along many interstates in the Midwest.

 

Copyright 2011 by KCCI