Truck dangles from Ore. bridge after crash
SALEM, Ore. — A driver has been cited after a truck hauling lumber products crashed at an Umpqua River bridge in southern Oregon Thursday, leaving the truck’s trailer hanging over the bridge railing.
An estimated 100 gallons of diesel leaked into the river. A hazmat team responded, Oregon State Police Lt. Gregg Hastings said.
The spokesman said 54-year-old Brian J. Neeley of Sheridan was cited for careless driving and failing to drive within a lane. He was taken to a hospital with minor injuries.
State police say the truck pulling a flatbed trailer was negotiating a left curve Thursday morning when it hit the guardrail and went onto the bridge railing. The lumber products spilled off the trailer as it went over the railing.
Oregon Transportation Department spokesman Jared Castle said a tow truck operator disconnected the truck cab from the trailer, allowing the trailer to fall to the ground near the river bank. The truck cab and trailer were then hauled away.
After temporary repairs to the damaged guardrail and a check by bridge engineers, the two-lane Scottsburg Bridge was fully reopened by Thursday night.
