A bridge in South Carolina has been closed indefinitely following a fatal semi truck crash that compromised the bridge’s structural integrity.
The accident occurred on Friday, March 9th at approximately 10:03 a.m. in Orangeburg County, South Carolina.
According to the South Carolina Highway Patrol, a tractor trailer was traveling east on Interstate 26 when, for unknown reasons, the driver lost control and crossed the center median before entering the westbound lanes and crashing into the Four Holes Road bridge.
The unnamed truck driver was killed in the crash. No other injuries have been reported.
The semi truck was hauling gravel at the time of the crash, and much of it was spilled along the center median.
UPDATE: one person dead after 18-wheeler hit bridge near Orangeburg exit. Traffic backed up for miles leading up to accident. WB lanes surrounding Orangeburg are closed indefinitely, per Highway Patrol pic.twitter.com/JvbZ1JvHqj
— Kolbie Satterfield (@KolbieLive5) March 9, 2018
Due to the severity of the damage to the bridge, as well as the debris left in the roadway, the westbound lanes of I-26 at Four Holes Road have been shut down with no estimated time of reopening, reported the Times and Democrat.
“Right now, the westbound traffic is shut down indefinitely,” said SCHP Lance Cpl. Judd Jones at around 2:00 p.m. on Friday afternoon.
Westbound traffic was being detoured to Exit 154 and then onto US 301 and then US 176, where drivers will take US 176 back to I-26.
The bridge, which was built around 1960 and carries about 450 cars a day, will be demolished on Friday night and will eventually be replaced, says SCDOT Construction Engineer Jim Porth, but no plans for the building of a new bridge have been released.
