SPONSORED CONTENT
The Woodrow Wilson Bridge was shut down for hours late in June following a fatal truck crash and subsequent fire. The driver of the truck involved in the crash was the lone fatality. The accident occurred on Wednesday, June 20 around 11 a.m. in the outer loops of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.
According to the Maryland State Police, the truck involved in the crash slammed into a boom truck and two other construction trucks when it lost control in the Northbound lanes of the highway.
The accident took the life of the driver of the truck that lost control. One witness to the accident said that it looked as if a bomb was detonated at the scene. “The loss of a loved one causes a lot of grief and pain to begin with. Losing a loved one because of the negligent actions of another can make it a downright impossible situation to handle,” an Alexandria wrongful death attorney with Price Benowitz LLP, said.
The assistant fire chief for the Prince George’s Fire/EMS division, Denny Chatel, said that seven people were treated for minor injuries at the scene of the crash and then released. Only one person was transported to the hospital.
Chatel told reporters that close to 100 emergency personnel responded to the crash scene from four different jurisdictions. The inner loop was closed for more than an hour due to the heavy smoke from the fire. The outer loop local lanes reopened in the afternoon the day of the crash. The through lanes were closed until close to 11 p.m. as the investigation and cleanup continued well into the night.
There were multiple workers who were working underneath the bridge when the accident occurred, which left them stranded. They have to be rescued from their positions under the bridge.
According to Prince George’s County Police, a patrol boat was in the Potomac at the time of the explosion and officers on board witnessed it. The boat was able to get close enough to the bridge to help rescue the construction workers stranded underneath the bridge following the explosion. Washington, D.C. and Alexandria both sent fire boats and firetrucks to help extinguish the fire.
Sign up for the Blue Virginia weekly newsletter
