UPDATE: SR 11 closure caused when truck struck bridge; trucker dies

VIENNA — One person died after a crash at 4:39 a.m. today that involved semi tractor-trailers and other vehicles on state Route 11 in Trumbull County, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol Southington post.

Some residents were evacuated after one semi hit the Niles-Vienna Road overpass and caused a gas leak, the patrol said.

Traffic was being diverted away from the north and southbound lanes of state Route 11 between state Route 82 and Interstate 80, the patrol said.

The Ohio Department of Transportation said a truck carrying a trash dumpster was traveling along Route 11, north of Girard (in the southbound direction) when it hit the Niles-Vienna Road overpass.

Damage done to the bridge (holes and bent beams) created potential unsafe conditions because there are gas lines in the bridge, ODOT said.

This caused a complete closure of Route 11 (under Niles-Vienna) and Niles-Vienna Road. How long the closures will be in place is undetermined.

Roads leading to the site were blocked to traffic, along with Route 11 being closed from Tibbetts Wick Road to Route 82. It was also blocked at Stillwagon Road and Scoville-North Road.

The established detours:

NB 11 detour is I-80 to SR 193 to SR 82 W

SB 11 detour is SR 82 to SR 46 S to US 422 to I-80/SR 11

At Route 11 and Niles-Vienna, the trucker was killed. Officials were not releasing the trucker’s name by mid-morning.

Fire Chief Rich Brannon of the Vienna Volunteer Fire Department said a roll-off truck hit the I-beam of the bridge, because the truck lift was up. It sheared the beam. There also was a semi-tractor trailer, a pickup truck, and one car were involved in the mishap. The driver of the car was treated at Forum Health trumbull Memorial Hospital. The pickup truck driver was taken to St. Joseph Health Center.

Some residents were evacuated.

“It’s going to be a hell of a mess. It looks like pick-up sticks,” the chief said.

Brannon said that the flatbed truck apparently hit the understructure of the bridge, and gashed open a four- to six-inch natural gas line.

“There was a vapor cloud for a while,” he said.

Ten to 12 homes were evacuated because of the possibility of an explosion.

Baker Elementary School on Sheridan Drive off of state Route 193 was also closed as a precaution.

ODOT inspectors were at the bridge at mid-morning, trying to determine if the span was structurally damaged.

The Red Cross had established a shelter at the Vienna Volunteer Fire Department on Route 193.

Mary Pleso of Niles-Vienna Road was one of those evacuated.

“I had time to dress. The police got me here because I was snowed in, anyway,” the 77-year-old Pleso said. “I couldn't have gone anywhere, anyway.”

She noted she lives about 150 feet off of Niles-Vienna.

Another evacuee, Collette Stevenson, of Karen Oval, off Smith-Stewart Road in Vienna, went to the fire station with her husband Walt.

“I had no idea what was going on,” the 64-year-old said.

The evacuees were allowed to return to their homes after the gas line had been shut off.