Tomotla – A concrete pumper truck drifted off the highway and rolled over early Monday morning, stopping just short of the Valley River.
The driver, whose name was not available, was taken to Erlanger Western Carolina Hospital for observation and released, according to N.C. Highway Patrol officials at the scene. The incident occurred at about 3:20 a.m. on the eastbound lanes of U.S. 19/74.
The truck, operated by Brundage-Bone Concrete Pumping out of state, is used to pump wet concrete to higher elevations. According to the Highway Patrol, the vehicle was being used at the expansion project at Harrah’s Cherokee Valley River Casino & Hotel.
The driver was headed eastbound when the vehicle came off a gentle right-hand curve and drifted off the left-hand side of the highway. It scraped along the guard rail, then crashed through it onto a soft, muddy median strip.
The truck rolled over at least once, but possibly more. As it rolled, it ripped off the cab roof, windshield and driver-side door.
The truck came to rest on its passenger side, leaving a 230-foot-long debris field of pipes, fittings, cab wreckage and one tire ripped off of a back wheel. It was just 90 feet from a steep river embankment.
First responders arrived immediately and the driver was taken by ambulance to the hospital. Three Highway Patrol officers were dispatched – one to investigate the incident, one to investigate and document the wreckage and one to control traffic.
N.C. Department of Transportation workers closed the eastbound lanes at 5:36 a.m. and detoured traffic via Tomotla Road.
It took three heavy-duty wreckers to pull the large truck off its side and back onto its wheels. Two wreckers pulled from one side with a third connected from the opposite side to ease the truck onto its wheels and prevent it from rolling over onto its other side.
Eastbound traffic was blocked through the morning before being cleared at 12:13 p.m. Westbound traffic was blocked for the 15 minutes around 10 a.m. it took to pull the wreckage back onto its wheels.