A dump truck with its bed raised clipped the bottom of an overhead sign structure early Wednesday on Interstate 40 westbound at Crystal Hill Road in North Little Rock, causing traffic to back up for much of the day in the busy corridor.
The crash at 7:18 a.m. felled one of the two overhead signs upon impact, causing the Arkansas State Police initially to shut down two westbound lanes, according to Randy Ort, a spokesman for the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department. State highway officials who arrived on the scene a little later temporarily shut down all three lanes just before the second sign fell, he said.
One lane was reopened, but all three westbound lanes were shut down again to allow a crane to remove the structure used to support the signs because of the damage sustained in the crash, Ort said.
The crash is the second in a week involving a dump truck on I-40. Last Thursday, a dump truck struck the North Hills Boulevard overpass, also in North Little Rock. The truck and its bed, which also had not been lowered all the way, separated, spilling a load of dirt on the roadway.
About 77,000 vehicles travel daily on the section of I-40 that was the site of Wednesday’s accident, according to Highway Department statistics.
“Traffic is going to have issues for much of the day there,” Ort said.
Department officials encouraged motorists to take Interstate 30 west to Interstate 630, west to Interstate 430 and then north back to I-40 or to use Arkansas 365 to avoid the stretch of highway.
Ed Weed, 25, a clerk at the Crystal Hill Liquor store, had a good view of congestion from the establishment, which sits on a hill overlooking the westbound exit for Crystal Hill Road from I-40.
“It was backed up most of the day,” he said.
A delivery truck scheduled to stop at the store was unable to exit at Crystal Hill Road because of the traffic or lane closures, Weed said.
“One of my delivery guys was in traffic for three hours,” he said. “That’s how long it took him to go from the Burns Park exit to Morgan/Maumelle.
“That’s halfway to Mayflower.”
Weed didn’t think the crash and backup affected business all that much, however.
By 3:30 p.m., before the evening rush began in earnest, traffic was moving smoothly with all lanes open. Workers had removed the signs and structures supporting it. A department crew was seen stationing a portable electronic sign ahead of the exit.
The displaced signs included one directing motorists to Crystal Hill Road and one to I-430 south.
The structure supporting the signs will be replaced and the signs reinstalled, but it might take some time, Ort said. “It is not something we can get off the shelf.”
The department will seek reimbursement for the damage, he said.
The truck belonged to Lambert Construction Co. of Little Rock, according to Bill Sadler, a state police spokesman. A trooper pulled over the truck and its driver about 8 miles west of the accident and returned them to the scene, he said. The bed was lowered when the truck was pulled over, Sadler said.
Sadler said the Arkansas Highway Police also were investigating the truck and its equipment. The Highway Police is an arm of the Highway and Transportation Department and enforces federal regulations involving commercial vehicles.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 04/24/2014