Motorists Tell Harrowing Tales After Bridge Over Freeway Collapses
Published on 9/30/2014
The blast – whatever its source – shook his house on Archdale. “I jumped straight out of bed,” Timmons told The Detroit News.
He went out to investigate, and saw the collapsed pedestrian bridge and the oversized truck that investigators later determined had hit it, bringing the Cathedral Street overpass near Joy Road to the ground.
The driver of the truck died, and investigators are still trying to determine exactly what happened. A preliminary investigation suggests the truck driver’s load shifted and couldn’t clear the underpass, the Detroit Free Press reports.
No one was on the pedestrian bridge when it collapsed, and it appears the truck driver, whose name has not been released, was the only person injured or killed.
Michael Wade, Timmons’ neighbor, told The Detroit News it’s fortunate the accident didn’t occur later, when children gather on the bridge to wait for their school buses. “I’m glad it wasn’t during school hours,” Wade said.
The twisted, mangled wreckage caused traffic to be backed up for several miles just as rush hour was getting under way.
Michigan Department of Transportation officials are confident that the now bent and mangled bridge did not collapse because it was structurally unsound.
“It absolutely did not collapse on its own,” MDOT spokeswoman Diane Cross said. “It was pulled down onto the freeway.”
It’s unclear how long the freeway will remain closed t I-96 to the north and Ford Road to the south. Westbound motorists are encouraged to use Telegraph Road and eastbound motorists are being rerouted to Greenfield Road.
Timmons’ story of the sudden early morning awakening is one of dozens of harrowing tales among motorists caught in the accident.
A motorist from Novi who identified himself as Bob told WDIV-Channel 4 and WXYZ-Channel 7 that he barely escaped injury, though his car was smashed. He reportedly said that he was driving to the airport one moment, then saw the Joy Road traffic sign from the bridge on his windshield.
“I was just heading down to Southbound, heading down to the airport and (there was) a lot of commotion,” he told WDIV. “All of a sudden, the street sign … was right in front of me. I could see it coming down and I ducked – like that was gonna do any good, right?
“Boom! It hit me. It caved in the roof and hit me in the head and everything smashed,” he said. “I pulled off to the side and got out.”