Highway 412 eastbound going into Downtown Tulsa was at a crawl Friday night after the Oklahoma Highway Patrol said a truck hauling a crane was too tall and struck the 65th West Ave. bridge Thursday afternoon.
Engineers gave the OK to open all lanes of eastbound at US-412/US-64/SH-51 at 65th W. Avenue.
All lanes of 65th W. Ave. over US-412/US-64/SH-51 will remain closed indefinitely; continue following local detours around this closure.
Kenna Mitchell, a spokeswoman for ODOT said after the crash, several steel beams were pushed out of place.
”When you look at it from the side and you see the damage to the beams and how it separated from the pavement and just the twisting of the metal and even the cracking of the metal it’s just not safe to have traffic on the bridge right now and that’s what we’re going to be closely monitoring just to see what happens with the steel over the weekend,” said Mitchell.
One neighbor said she felt her home shake when the crash a happened.
“I was sitting in my house looking out my window and I saw this truck going under the bridge—so much force it just mangled it,” said Chrystie Miller.
”Then I come outside and see all this turmoil, just wreckage everywhere.” said Miller.
Troopers said the driver of the truck pulling the oversized load didn’t have the proper permit and the clearance of the driver’s load was too high to pass underneath the bridge.
After clearing some of the concert, ODOT wants to make sure cars stay away from the overpass.
“We’re not quite there yet, some drivers are going to have to plan ahead for some extra time to get through this area along the ramps or they’re going to need to find another way around it,” said Mitchell.
ODOT said this is the second time in less than a year an oversized load hit the 65th West Ave. bridge.
Mitchell said in this case, since there was damage done to state property, ODOT can go after the responsible party for causing the damage.
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