By JESSE BEDAYN and COLLEEN SLEVIN (Associated Press)
DENVER (AP) — A semi-trailer truck driver was killed when a practice derailed and a bridge collapsed, spewing coal and mangled practice automobiles throughout a significant freeway close to Pueblo, Colorado that was closed indefinitely, authorities mentioned Monday.
The 60-year-old driver was initially mentioned to be trapped in Sunday’s accident alongside Interstate 25, however authorities mentioned Monday that he had died. No different autos have been concerned, Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Gayle Perez mentioned.
The Colorado State Patrol and the sheriff’s workplace posted images and movies exhibiting {a partially} collapsed bridge over the interstate with the semi-truck caught beneath. The pictures additionally present a pileup of practice automobiles, practice wheels scattered throughout the scene and a great deal of coal masking a portion of the freeway.
The freeway — the primary north-south freeway in Colorado — remained closed Monday morning. The Colorado Department of Transportation mentioned it will be an “extended closure” as native regulation enforcement officers waited for federal investigators to reach.
The bridge was in-built 1958 in keeping with Colorado Department of Transportation information, division spokesperson Bob Wilson mentioned. BNSF owns the bridge and is chargeable for inspecting it, he mentioned. It was unclear when the bridge collapsed, state patrol spokesperson Gary Cutler mentioned.
A 60-year-old man driving a semi-truck caught within the wreckage was killed, in keeping with Gabriel Moltrer, a spokesperson for Colorado State Patrol. Moltrer didn’t supply extra particulars in regards to the man’s dying, citing an ongoing investigation.
The National Transportation Safety Board was sending investigators to the location about 114 miles (183 kilometers) south of Denver.
Until investigators are capable of asses the scene, it’s unknown what the timeline for the freeway’s reopening will probably be, mentioned Perez.
The BNSF practice carrying coal derailed on a bridge over Interstate 25 simply north of Pueblo round 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, in keeping with Kendall Kirkham Sloan, a spokesperson for the Fort Worth, Texas-based freight railroad. There have been no reported accidents to BNSF crew. The reason behind the derailment was beneath investigation and BNSF personnel have been working with responding businesses to clear the incident as safely as potential, Kirkham Sloan mentioned.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg mentioned on social media that he had been in contact with Gov. Jared Polis and had been briefed by the Federal Railroad and Federal Highway administrations on the derailment and collapse. He mentioned officers can be prepared to assist help a swift return to regular use for the freeway and rail routes.
Unlike freeway bridges, nobody catalogs rail bridges and it’s largely as much as the railroads to examine and preserve them.
President Joe Biden had been scheduled to go to CS Wind, the world’s largest facility for wind tower manufacturing, in Pueblo on Monday, however postponed the journey to remain in Washington and concentrate on the rising battle within the Middle East. The White House mentioned only a few hours earlier than Biden was set to take off for the journey that it will be rescheduled.
Pueblo is without doubt one of the anchors of Colorado’s sprawling Third Congressional District, which covers extra floor than the state of Pennsylvania. Rep. Lauren Boebert, a combative Trump loyalist, received the seat in 2020 and barely held on to it in the course of the 2022 midterms. Boebert has described Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, the president’s signature home laws and the supply of lots of of billions of {dollars} for clear power incentives, as “a massive failure” that “needs to be repealed.”
A railroad bridge collapse in southern Montana in June despatched railcars with oil merchandise plunging into the Yellowstone River, spilling molten sulfur and as much as 250 tons (226.7 metric tons) of sizzling asphalt.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com”