8-Car Pileup On Brent Spence Bridge Raises Safety Questions
UPDATE: New video footage shows the semi-trailer swerving across several lanes of traffic, which causes another vehicle to plummet to the lower deck of the bridge.
On Saturday afternoon, a car carrying four people plummeted 25 feet into the lower deck of the Brent Spence Bridge, which then caused an eight-vehicle pileup.
The crash sent a total of six people to local area hospitals. Although the accident was not fatal and many victims suffered minor injuries, officials and residents are raising questions about the safety of the bridge.
Ohio and Kentucky officials have been discussing ways to pay for replacing or rebuilding the 50-year-old bridge. The bridge is considered functionally obsolete because it has narrow lanes, lacks emergency shoulders and has limited visibility.
Originally, the bridge was designed to carry approximately 80,000 vehicles per day, but by 2005 it was carrying more than double that amount.
Proponents of building a new bridge note that the Brent Spence Bridge carries both I-75 and I-71 through the area, which means it is one of the busiest trucking routes in the U.S. Additionally, about 650 emergency calls are made from the bridge each year; during high traffic hours it could be much more difficult for emergency crews to get to those in need. Motorists are three to five times more likely to have a wreck along the corridor than on any other portion of the interstate systems of Ohio, Kentucky or Indiana, according to the Brent Spence Bridge Corridor website.
The accident on Saturday was the result of a driver in a Mitsubishi Galant crossing the path of a semi-trailer while attempting to travel across two lanes of traffic to an exit. The semi tried to swerve out of the vehicles way, but failed to do so and struck the car on the passenger side. The Galant struck the side wall and came to rest there. However, the semi went across all lanes of traffic and struck an Oldsmobile Intrigue in the far left lane. Upon impact, the Oldsmobile was forced over the barrier and onto the lower deck.
Brent Spence Bridge was closed for approximately three hours; emergency crews had trouble getting to the crash site due to traffic congestion on the bridge.
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