0524
Aug 18, 01, 3:55 pm
An 18-wheeler got taken for a swim in a rain-swollen creek north of Fairbanks on Thursday evening when the surging water washed out the roadbed at Mile 5 of the Dalton Highway, state transportation authorities said.
No one was hurt, according to witnesses. Crews were hoping to salvage the truck, which remained stuck in the water of Lost Creek.
The washout occurred in a side channel of the creek, seven miles up the gravel highway from Livengood and about 50 miles northwest of Fairbanks.
The road remained closed overnight Thursday, stranding up to 20 tractor-trailers, several passenger vehicles and apparently a tour bus on the north side of the break, said Joel Craft, a maintenance manager for the Department of Transportation in Fairbanks.
One lane of the highway was reopened at 10 a.m. Friday, Craft said, and the road was expected to be fully opened and largely repaired by evening.
(Anchorage Daily News)
No one was hurt, according to witnesses. Crews were hoping to salvage the truck, which remained stuck in the water of Lost Creek.
The washout occurred in a side channel of the creek, seven miles up the gravel highway from Livengood and about 50 miles northwest of Fairbanks.
The road remained closed overnight Thursday, stranding up to 20 tractor-trailers, several passenger vehicles and apparently a tour bus on the north side of the break, said Joel Craft, a maintenance manager for the Department of Transportation in Fairbanks.
One lane of the highway was reopened at 10 a.m. Friday, Craft said, and the road was expected to be fully opened and largely repaired by evening.
(Anchorage Daily News)