CINCINNATI, Ohio – Fire and emergency medical officials say a construction worker was killed and a tractor trailer driver injured when an interstate overpass undergoing demolition collapsed in Cincinnati.
The Cincinnati Fire Department says the collapse onto southbound I-75 happened near Hopple Street around 10:30 p.m. Monday.
Fire officials say southbound lanes were closed indefinitely. It wasn’t clear what caused the collapse.
An investigation is getting underway to determine what caused the collapse.
“You’ve got a lot of very heavy equipment in a very, very heavy construction site. Who knows what happened, but we will find out,” city manager Harry Black said.
Officials say several hundred tons of hundreds of concrete fell onto the roadway. A tractor trailer was damaged and the driver was taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center with minor injuries after the semi collided with the bridge as it hit the ground.
“The semi driver’s very lucky. A matter of seconds and his fate probably would have been different as well,” Cincinnati police chief Jeffrey Blackwell said.
A witness told WLWT5 that he heard “a real big boom” and then a couple of seconds later he saw police cars rushing to the scene.