This eighteen wheeler lost its driver’s side front tire on I-35 Southbound, and flew all the way across the median until hitting the guardrail on I-35 North, just a few feet before the bridge over Hwy 173 in Devine. Amazingly, the truck didn’t strike any oncoming traffic on I-35 North, but the driver was transported by ambulance. The accident happened around 2:45 am this past Friday morning, December 20th.
“This is why it is so important that the state gets that cable put up all the way down the median between I-35 S and I-35 N,” said Devine Fire Chief Mike Walker. “They have put up some cable this past year (in Frio County), but there are still spots like this where vehicles run straight across the median and into traffic on the other side of 35. The truck was heading south when his driver’s side tire came apart and it pulled him to the left. It carried him all the way through the median and through three trees that were growing together. It ripped about half of the trees right out of the ground and I believe that’s what tore the axle out most likely. The front steering axle got pushed way up underneath the cab of the truck.”
Amazed that the 70 MPH traffic on I-35 North didn’t collide with the eighteen wheel stretched across the interstate, Walker added, “They got real lucky . There were quite a few vehicles that stopped right up next to it. They were very fortunate.”
The driver is also fortunate that the blowout didn’t happen just a few seconds later.
“If he had gone even a couple hundred feet farther, he would have been on top of that bridge going over Hwy 173. The accident happened right before the overpass, near Walmart.”
Interstate 35 was shut down for about 3 1/2 hours after the dangerous accident.
Accidents like these highlight the importance of having cables to act as a barrier between the North and South bound interstates. Just last December, a man was nearly killed when a truck ran across the median and he was struck by both north and south bound traffic, crushing him in between. Just a month prior to that, in November 2018, two men were killed in an accident after one vehicle ran across the median.
After the accidents last November and December, one local responder commented, “It’s about 40-50 feet from I-35 South to I-35 North, and right now in many places, there’s nothing but green grass separating this busy interstate in our area. These kinds of accidents on I-35, where we are seeing vehicles traveling at such a high rate of speed and crossing the median into oncoming traffic are especially dangerous, and often fatal as we saw in a horrible accidents in November and December 2018.