PIERRE S.D. (KELO) — A truck vs bridge crash in Pierre left a road closed for 6 hours.
The crash occurred on Friday June 28th around 11:30 am at the Rapid City, Pierre and Eastern viaduct over Pierre Street.
Pierre police reported that this is the fourth vehicle vs bridge incident that they have had this year.
“Especially for truck drivers its important to be aware of how tall your truck and trailer is. I think some drivers pay more attention to their GPS than the road sometimes which is what leads to incidents like this.” said Pierre Police Captain Dusty Pelle.
The bridge in Pierre SD has its own Facebook group titled Trucks vs. Bridge, Pierre SD with over 22,000 members.
Andrew Chriscoe of Boones Mill, Virginia was driving north on Pierre Street in a 2024 Kenworth pulling a 53-foot enclosed cargo trailer when the vehicle became wedged under the lower-than-standard clearance bridge.
The cargo in the trailer was 40-thousand pounds of water softener pellets in 40 pound bags. Much of that cargo, at least five pallets worth had to be transferred by hand to new pallets to unload the trailer before it could be removed. The cargo was then reloaded into a second trailer.
Northbound Pierre Street was closed for nearly six hours to clear the scene. Chriscoe was verbally warned, but not ticketed for a truck route violation and failure to obey a traffic signal.
Police said that when it comes to crashes like these there is only so much that they can do as proper signage is already posted around the bridge.
