Mar 3, 2008 7:37 pm US/Mountain
Police Believe Driver Who Hit Bridge Fell Asleep
BENNETT, Colo. (CBS4) ―
Eastbound Interstate 70 at Bennett will be down to one lane through Tuesday while the Colorado Department of Transportation makes repairs to a bridge support column.
CDOT shut down all lanes of eastbound I-70 early Sunday morning after a semi truck ran off the road and hit a bridge.
"We believe that a driver of a semi truck fell asleep and ran off the road, striking a bridge, so it sounds like it was just a really bad accident as a result of that," CDOT spokeswoman Stacey Stegman said.
The driver, James Strauss, 54, of Oklahoma, remains hospitalized, but in good condition. Police said he told them at the wreckage site and again at the hospital that he had fallen asleep at the wheel.
Stegman said the truck ran off the road around 4 a.m. and hit a support pillar for the bridge that runs over I-70, leading to the Bennett Rest Area, just east of mile marker 306.
CBS4's Rick Sallinger investigated trucker fatigue in February. Investigators told Sallinger they will look into Strauss' log book to see when he picked up his load in Idaho and when reached the point of the accident.
Federal regulations restrict truck drivers to a 14-hour work day. They can only drive for 11 of those hours, and 70 hours maximum in an eight-day week.
On Monday, CDOT's contractor began repairs on the bridge forcing one lane of I-70 to be closed at the bridge.
Traffic won't be allowed to travel over the bridge at all until the weekend, at the earliest.
(© MMIX CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Reporting
Comments