Loaded large car crash during bad snow storm.

[BigWheelArchives]

12-15-03

On 12-14-03 at approx. 7:30 pm, Mass State Police called us to respond to Rte. 140N/S of exit 11 for a loaded 53 foot tractor and trailer unit that was run off the road down a steep embankment leaning on some trees. At that time we were experiencing an intense snow storm, visibility was very limited and the roads were unplowed. We responded to the scene with two HD trucks and one flat bed with specialized equipment on it. Upon our arrival we obvserved a long nose large bunk Kenworth conventional tractor and a 53 foot refer trailer in a deep gully. The wheels were sunk in the mud and the truck was almost at a 45 degree angle held up by some large trees. There was 46,000 lbs. in the trailer alone. We checked the three fuel tanks to make sure nothing was leaking and there was no short circuits. The State Police didn't want the highway shut down during the snow storm. We also wouldn't have been able to get any traction until the road was cleared. The State police didn't want to move the truck until after the morning rush hour. The next morning we responded back to the accident with our front end loader to remove all the snow from the embankments and scrape the highway down to the pavement where as we had a hard pull and needed traction for the trucks. The TT unit drove over a cultersack (a large cut out in the embankment with a concrete drain pipe going under the highway). To prevent any damamge to the truck and trailer, we used two 60 ton rotators to hold the unit from rolling over and also to provide lift as we winched the complete unit up the steep grade and over the cultersack. We also sent the loader down the embankment to lift and steer the tractor and to hold the front up so it wouldn't hit the base pan or radiator on the cement pipe in the cultersack. This recovery had to be done from the break down lane and first travel lane where as the State Police had to keep Rte. 140 open. The unit had to be rigged six different times to position the truck from rolling over and to keep it out of the travel lane on Rte. 140 as it was extracted. There was no damage to the truck, trailer, or load from the recovery.