FORT WORTH, TEXAS — Southbound lanes of Highway 287 near downtown Fort Worth will remain closed for seven to ten days after a Waste Management trash truck slammed into several support pillars of the Erath Street bridge Wednesday evening, causing damage so severe that crews began partially demolishing the structure overnight.
The crash occurred around 6 p.m. when the truck drifted from its lane and struck the bridge supports. Driver Tyler Shivers, 33, was killed. His passenger Ruben Saenz is in critical condition. The NTSB has opened an investigation.
The impact left the bridge in what a civil engineering professor called a precarious and unsafe state. Nur Yazdani, an endowed professor at UT Arlington, said bridge support columns sitting close to high-speed traffic are not designed to withstand major vehicle impacts. “That bridge is very unsafe right now,” he said, adding that columns near high-speed traffic need to be retrofitted and wrapped in strengthening materials.
By early Friday morning TxDOT cameras showed half of the bridge over Erath Street being demolished. All northbound lanes at US-287 and Erath Street have since reopened while work continues in the southbound lanes. Southbound lanes are expected to remain closed for seven to ten days. Southbound drivers are being detoured to exit at Berry Street. Northbound drivers are being routed off at Miller Avenue.
TxDOT said crews are conducting emergency repairs while traffic remains rerouted. A Fort Worth police officer said he had never seen an accident cause such extensive damage to an overpass. State and local agencies are working together on the repair process and evaluating the full extent of the damage is expected to take at least a week.
Drivers in the area are urged to seek alternate routes and avoid the area.
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