Suspected drunk driver gets stuck on unfinished I-75 bridge after smashing through barricades

Updated Sep 29, 2017
Screenshot of crews removing the vehicle from the bridge construction site. Click On Detroit.Screenshot of crews removing the vehicle from the bridge construction site. Click On Detroit.

A driver suspected of being drunk swerved into a construction work zone on the Interstate 75 Rouge River bridge in Detroit Sept. 17, according to ClickOnDetroit. The northbound lanes of I-75 were closed while crews removed the vehicle from the southbound lanes.

“We had a suspected drunk driver actually drive through the barricades on the southbound side of 75 and become stuck on the Rouge River portion where the freeway was unfinished,” Michigan State Police Lt. Michael Shaw told the news agency. “Troopers were able to get ahold of him and get him into custody. It’s very fortunate for the driver of that vehicle to make it that far onto an unfinished portion of the freeway without that portion collapsing and sending him down to the Rouge River.”

A security guard reported that the vehicle barely missed him as it entered the construction site and crashed onto newly laid corrugated metal sheeting. If not for the metal sheeting, which is placed down before pouring the concrete, the vehicle would have landed in the Rouge River.

“The material that this driver went onto is the kind of thing that goes down before the concrete gets poured,” Diane Cross, Missouri Department of Transportation, told the news agency. “That material was just put down yesterday. Had that not been there, this could have been a much different outcome.”

Officials report that the crash caused about $50,000 worth of damage. It isn’t expected to cause any delays for the project, but the sheeting will have to be replaced.