Truck Left Dangling Off Bridge After Tulsa Driver Ignores Barricades

OHP troopers&nbsp;say it appears an unidentified driver drove the pickup truck around barricades at the Cincinnati Street exit and then drove out on a bridge which had no decking, just steel beams. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.okladot.state.ok.us/newsmedia/tulsa-idl/index.htm" target="_blank">Oklahoma Department of Transportation</a>

Tuesday, June 29th 2010, 7:48 am

By: News On 6


By Lori Fullbright, The News On 6

TULSA, OK -- The Oklahoma Highway Patrol and Tulsa Fire Department were called to the Inner Dispersal Loop in downtown Tulsa early Tuesday morning after a driver crashed his pickup truck on a bridge undergoing reconstruction.

OHP troopers say it appears an unidentified driver drove the pickup truck around barricades at the Cincinnati Street exit and then drove out on a bridge which had no decking, just steel beams.

The bridge is located on the northeast corner of the IDL.

Recola Faulks heard the crash.

"While we were sleeping, just as we were getting to sleep, we heard a crash and thought somebody threw something over the highway here," Faulks said.

The pickup truck fell between two beams and was only being held up by wires high above the ground.

It took Tulsa firefighters and construction crews several hours to get the truck into position, so they could lower it to the ground.

Despite the truck's precarious perch, the driver was able to crawl out a window and get free, then disappeared before police and fire got there. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol will look for the driver and go from there.

"Obviously there's damage there, probably several thousand dollars worth to the bridge decking," Lt. George Brown, OHP, said. "It's expensive equipment, so we'll do what we can to bring this person to justice."

The News On 6 learned the truck was registered to a house in Collinsville and left a business card. They called back and said it didn't belong to them, but they did sell a Dodge truck some time ago to a dealership in town.

The Burlington North-Santa Fe railroad lines, which run under the bridge, were closed to rail traffic while crews got the truck off the bridge

The Oklahoma Department of Transportation is now inspecting the bridge and its decking for damage.

The contractor working on that bridge will have to repair the beams and replace some of the fall protection, which keeps items from falling onto the railroad tracks below. The bridge replacement project won't be finished until winter.

As for the truck, OHP has it and figures the driver will come forward at some point to claim it.

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