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Beaver Co. Road Closed For Additional Cleanup From Tractor Trailer Crash

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SEWICKLEY TOWNSHIP (KDKA) -- Part of a Beaver County road is closed again following extensive repairs and cleanup after a tractor trailer crashed into a ravine.

The four-mile stretch of Freedom Crider Road in New Sewickley Township, near the border with Butler County, reopened around 2 p.m. Wednesday, but had to be closed again for additional cleanup.

PennDOT anticipates the road will be closed through Wednesday evening and remain closed into Thursday.

A tractor trailer lost control and crashed, damaging the guide-rail, and creating a big mess Tuesday afternoon. The driver of the semi is lucky to be alive. He managed to jump out of his truck before it toppled over onto the guard-rail, knocking some of the drywall nearly 60-80 feet into the ravine below.

The semi took out around 40 feet of the guard-rail and created a huge mess for crews to clean up.

"In the process of the rollover, it caused one saddle to open up and had approximately 200 gallons of diesel fuel go over the hillside down into the creek," said Fire Chief Mike Guraly, with Pine Run Volunteer Fire Department.

Hazmat was called in, as well as the DEP. On top of that mess, drywall was strewn all over the side of the hill, which stalled the re-opening of the road.

"They're gonna come with a crane with a fork to go over the hillside. All the drywall is going to have to get hand loaded onto the forks to bring it up over the hillside," said Guraly.

Contractors spent the early part of the day replacing the guard-rail, which is another hold up to re-opening the road to traffic. The truck crashed around 4 p.m. Tuesday. As it was headed east around the bend, it jackknifed.

"Semi trucks aren't even allowed on this road. It has a 10-ton weight limit," said Guraly.

It's that weight limit that sent the truck over the edge, literally. This is something emergency responders say they are used to seeing.

"With the road construction, truckers GPS systems take them this way, which this isn't our first truck over the hill. We've probably had four to five," said Guraly.

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