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A 24-mile section of Interstate 70 closed last November due to a rock slide that left boulders imbedded 6 feet deep into the roadway.
The detour prescribed by officials tending to the road closure was a 220-mile route through the western mountains.
The expected road closure is to last at least a day, as Department of Transportation workers clear the debris from the estimated 100 foot by 10 foot rock slide. Some of the boulders cleared were as large as a van.
Severe damages were inflicted on the surrounding area. Two bridges had holes punched through them, guardrails were damaged, and two wall panels on the westbound lanes toppled. Engineers were called to check the bridges.
At the time, geologists had no firm idea on what caused the slide.
A source based in Manhattan, NY, said no one was injured in the rock slide because the roadway had already been closed earlier that morning with a tractor trailer accident
.
The night before, a semi-truck driver attempted to exit the highway but lost control of his large vehicle while negotiating a curve. The truck skidded 242 feet before colliding with the median barrier. After toppling to its side, it slid for another 442 feet.
The truck accident closed the same stretch of highway affected by the following day’s rock slide. The 48-year-old driver had to be treated at a local hospital for minor injuries only. He was released and cited for careless driving.
Road crews from Long Island were actually getting ready to re-open the highway when the rock slide happened about a mile away.
A witness said there were well over 200 fatal rockslides worldwide in the first 6 months alone in 2010, before the official “Landslide Season” had even begun. With the ferocity of this slide, lives could easily have been taken by the geological forces, but thankfully they weren’t.
In cases of natural disaster, the only recompense that can be made is if you suffer more damage because of shoddy craftsmanship or construction negligence.
Should you suffer within those parameters, or for some other reasons feel you are within your rights to ask for compensation, seek out the expertise of a New York City Truck Accident Attorney. You’re source of dedicated legal professionals.