Interstate 75 Highway Overpass in Ohio, Cincinnati Collapses: Construction Worker Found Dead, Driver Injured
An overpass set to be demolished at Interstate 75 in Cincinnati collapsed Monday night killing one and injuring another. Emergency responders arrived at the scene to free the deceased's body and assess the damage along with city officials.
The Cincinnati Fire Department reported via a press release what happened Monday night.
At around 10:32 p.m. firefighters and EMS were dispatched to the overpass on I-75 close to Hopple Street where the exit ramp collapsed unto the southbound lane of I-75. Around 46 firefighters responded to the accident.
"A tractor trailer struck the collapsed section as the bridge hit the ground. The truck driver sustained non-life threatening injuries and was transported to an area hospital for evaluation," Cincinnati Fire Department District Fire Chief Paul Weber said. "Unfortunately, a construction worker was killed in the collapse."
The Associated Press identified the victim on Tuesday as Brandon William Carl, 35, of Augusta, Kentucky. Firefighters took around four hours to raise the debris off Carl's body using airbags, WXYZ reports.
The driver of the truck has not been identified. He suffered only minor injuries and was transported to University of Cincinnati Medical Center.
I-75's southbound side has been "closed indefinitely" as emergency workers clean up and officials investigate the collapse.
"There needs to be excavation and then assessment of the overall structure of the remaining bridge parts and the pavement itself. We think may have some significant damage. We're going to be looking at all those factors before reopening I-75," Cincinnati Police Chief Jeffrey Blackwell said.
The overpass was to be demolished soon as construction crews had built a replacement ramp. Kokosing is the company contracted to do work on the overpass and have won safety awards, according to their website.
Nonetheless, city officials have called the collapse a "workplace incident," and the Ohio Department of Transportation and OSHA are investigating.
"It's a workplace incident. You've got a lot of heavy equipment in a construction site," City Manager Harry Black said. "Our teams are here surveying the situation. We will work with the state Department of Transportation to figure out what happened."
Traffic has been rerouted to I-74 and I-71 as the investigation and clean up continues.
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