SPOKANE, Wash. – Traffic is a bit of a crawl as a semi truck got stuck under an overpass in Downtown Spokane early Wednesday morning.
According to police, the truck got stuck on the overpass located on Stevens Street between first and second avenue. The Waste Management truck driver apparently was not paying attention, police said. The driver was not injured.
Police said two of the four lanes on Stevens are closed and traffic will be a bit congested while they work to remove the truck.
Police said it will take up to four hours to get the scene cleared. They said they have been to the same bridge multiple times for the same incident. A truck recently got stuck under an overpass on Sprague earlier in September, and another one was stuck under the bridge on Helena in August.
There was no word on if the driver will be charged.
Shortly before 9:00 a.m., Waste Management released a statement regarding the incident. They said the driver was going a different way because of the construction and "misjudged" the clearance of the bridge. They also said the driver has an exemplary safety record that spans over 20 years.
A Waste Management recycling transfer truck driver misjudged the clearance of a bridge in downtown Spokane today, resulting in his trailer becoming wedged under the overpass at Stevens and 1st Ave just before 7 am. The Waste Management driver was on an alternative route, maneuvering around construction zones. Thankfully there were no injuries and no other vehicles were involved. The driver is a 20-year Waste Management employee with an exemplary safety record. We would like to thank local authorities for their assistance and support while we continue to investigate.
The investigation is ongoing.
The bridge is only 11'6" high compared to the truck's height of 13'6" pic.twitter.com/qABowWiN78
— Matt Vergara (@KREMMatt) September 28, 2016