KANSAS CITY, Mo. — For the better part of Wednesday, crews worked to clean up the mess that an overturned tanker left behind.
A witness told police he saw the truck travel westbound on I-70 before 6:30 a.m. when it suddenly struck the guardrail that protects the bridge pillar to the southbound I-435 ramp.
The driver walked away with minor injuries.
The I-70 and I-435 interchange near the stadiums has seen its fair share of crashes.
According to KCPD, in 2016 there were 145 incidents. Last year 122.
To get a sense of what it’s like to drive through this busy interchange, 41 Action News went on a ride along with John Williams, a CDL instructor for Gear Monkey.
Besides paying attention, it’s always being aware of the speed.
“We have to slow down because of the size of the vehicle. If we’re loaded you know weight differential and a lot of times the general public that doesn’t understand all of that, they see us as going slow so they’re going to come out around us and shoot out in front of us and hit the brakes,” Williams said.
Another thing to keep in mind, the curves on the ramps.
In early 2016, MoDOT installed a radar speed sign to alert drivers of the 25 miles per hour speed limit.
MoDOT is now set to spend $40 million redesigning the interchange. They'll be making the cloverleaf exits rounder so the turns aren’t sharp.
“You can go too slow for a curve, but you’re only going to take them things one time too many too fast and that’s when a rollover comes into play and that could be a truck, car,” Williams said. “Center of gravity plays a big role in a curve for any time of vehicle so with a semi-truck I encourage them to slow down to at least five miles per hour below the speed limit sign so they can safely make the curve.”
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