Two trucks collide on I-99/I-80 intersection

Concrete beam dislodged onto road

By Mike Joseph

BELLEFONTE — Two heavy trucks collided at the dangerous intersection of interstates 99 and 80 on Tuesday, dislodging a massive concrete beam from one truck onto I-99 and closing the highway for two hours.

CDT/Nabil K. Mark

A vehicle involved in a crash near the I-99/I-80 interchange is towed from the scene June 16, 2009. CDT/Nabil K. Mark

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• A.M.BRIEFING: Wednesday

Neither truck driver was injured in the 9 a.m. Spring Township crash, but cars and trucks halted bumper-to-bumper in the northbound I-99 lanes until the beam and the truck wreckage were cleared.

The crash happened at the very location where a lack of state transportation money has delayed construction of a high-speed interchange between I-99 and I-80 that would permit vehicles to move from one highway to the other without stopping and waiting for oncoming traffic to clear.

The truck hauling the 100-foot-long concrete beam — made by New Enterprise Stone & Lime in Roaring Spring, Blair County, and bound for Williamsport — was making a left turn from the northbound lane of I-99 to the eastbound lane of I-80, police and witnesses said.

The Peterbilt truck — driven by Chester Over, of Williams-burg, 54, and marked for an oversize load with an escort car in front — had one end of the long gray beam fixed to the tractor and the other end fixed on a 12-tire dolly, with the beam alone in between.

A Kenworth tri-axle tanker truck, driven by Cory Mitchell, 40, of Acosta, was southbound on I-99, police and witnesses said. Police said the Kenworth driver failed to see the concrete beam crossing the road until it was too late to stop.

The impact knocked the rear end of the beam off the dolly and across the road, and the Kenworth truck drove off the road to the left with major front end damage, police said.

New Enterprise Stone & Lime trucked a new dolly to the crash location to remount the damaged beam and take it back to Roaring Spring, a New Enterprise official said.

The Centre County Metropolitan Planning Organization, a group of elected municipal and county officials that prioritizes transportation projects, is trying to find $150 million to build the high-speed interchange and an accompanying interchange between Jacksonville Road and I-80.

At an MPO committee meeting last week, PennDOT assistant district executive for design Karen Michael said traffic and crash rates at the I-80/I-99 intersection have increased dramatically in the last 10 years.

The full MPO is scheduled to take up the I-99/I-80 interchanges at a meeting 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Howard Township Fire Hall.

Mike Joseph can be reached at 235-3910.