Cleanup on Route 22 after big-rig crash

Last Wednesday morning October 18, a 53-foot tractor-trailer ran off the road heading northeast on state Route 22 toward Cadiz near Nottingham Church. The truck careened through a cornfield and up a small embankment before smashing into a group of trees.

The would-be 20-foot sleeper cab crushed around the front seat, absorbing the impact, and the cab was compressed to 7 or 8 feet when emergency responders arrived. No other vehicles were involved in the incident. The truck did not cross the oncoming lane, nor was the flow of traffic stopped throughout the duration of the cleanup.

Though it was difficult to rescue the driver, he sustained only minor injuries, according to state highway patrol reports confirmed Tuesday.

“We’ve been out on some bad accidents, but I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen a crash quite like this one, one crushed that badly,” said Russ Westfall, owner of Westfall Auto Sales and Towing.

The trailer was packed with tons of fresh produce that littered the scene of the accident. Crews from Westfall, Incident Management Solutions, and Blackies used excavators to remove the produce from the site before they could reach the tractor-trailer to recover it and drain the diesel tanks.

The trailer was fitted with a refrigeration system and an accompanying additional fuel tank, which required further safety measures to ensure leaks were contained and properly remediated. While a small amount of the produce was able to be salvaged, most of it was taken to Apex Landfill.

“The accident happened around 4 a.m. on Wednesday, and we were able to start the clean up about an hour later,” Westfall said. “We worked until nearly 1 a.m. Thursday to clean up the produce and recover the tractor. We went back on Friday to remove the trailer, which we had to cut in half to get it out of there.”