An 18-wheeler left a trail of destruction in its wake and forced the temporary shutdown of Highway 84 West this morning after crashing into a guardrail.
A rig hauling wood chips swerved off the road and hit a guardrail at the north Dry Creek bridge about a mile east of Bude, shutting down traffic for about five minutes, Franklin County Sheriff James Newman said.
According to Newman, the truck tore up more than 100 yards of guard rail, turning it “into confetti,” then continued over the North Dry Creek Bridge on its concrete railing, finally coming to a stop in a ditch on the west side of the bridge.
Newman did not have information on the driver or the company that owned the truck, but speculated fatigue might have been a factor.
The truck then caught on fire, igniting the wood chips it was hauling. One axle of the rig was left straddling the concrete railing on the eastern edge of the bridge, while the rest of the truck was close to 200 yards to the west. Wood chips were still smoking hours after the wreck occurred, Newman said, adding that the driver was not injured.
