Sand Truck Hits Highway Bridge In Tulsa

A sand truck collided with a bridge on Interstate 44 at Highway 169 Thursday morning.

Officials say the truck was heading east on I-44 at about 7:30 a.m. when the collision happened.

The truck is owned by a contractor who was working for the Oklahoma Department of Transportation.

According to emergency workers on the scene, it was carrying a large steel box designed to hold and spread sand on its dump bed, when the truck's hydraulics malfunctioned and caused the spreader box to lift up. The box then hit the bridge over I-44.

The impact knocked the spreader box off the truck and onto the highway.

Authorities say the driver wasn't injured and it doesn't appear the bridge was damaged.

The crash has shut down at least two outside lanes of eastbound I-44 at Highway 169.

Martin Stewart with ODOT says the sand box was empty and the truck was on its way to pick up a load when the crash happened.

A wrecker lifted the smashed box onto a trailer so it could be hauled away.