UPDATED at 9:38 a.m. Monday: U.S. 63 south of Houston was closed in both directions Thursday afternoon after a tractor-trailer rig carrying rock and gravel crashed and went off the roadway at the Indian Creek Bridge.
Missouri State Highway Patrol authorities said the northbound truck had a tire blowout and lost control, smashing through a guardrail and careening down a steep embankment. An MSHP report said the driver, Ernest Sandefur, 54, of Houston, sustained serious injuries and was taken by ambulance to Texas County Memorial Hospital. Several state officers were on the scene.
A Houston Redi-Mix official confirmed that the truck belonged to the firm and that Sandefur was flown to Springfield for treatment and expected to be OK.
Workers tend to the clean up of gravel spilled onto the Indian Creek Bridge on U.S. 63 south of Houston after a truck crashed early Thursday afternoon. So much roack and gravel covered the roadway following the accident that the highway was closed in both directions during the clean up period.
Before the truck left the roadway, a large amount of rock and gravel was strewn across the highway. While Missouri Department of Transportation workers cleaned up the mess, authorities closed the road in both directions and diverted traffic onto Millstone Road.
Other agencies involved in the response to the crash included the Houston Police Department, Texas County Sheriff’s Department and Houston Rural Fire Department.