Overturned Truck in Whitemarsh Snarls Traffic Friday

Traffic was snarled for over four hours on Feb. 15 as authorities worked to right a construction vehicle with an attached boom extension that overturned on Ridge and Butler Pikes in Whitemarsh just after 10 a.m.

The driver of the 65,000 pound rig said he was making right hand turn onto Ridge Pike from Butler Pike when a vehicle in the left-turn-only lane next to him quickly approached on his left, and "darted" to the right, as if to either continue straight or turn right onto Ridge Pike.

The driver veered his truck to the right to avoid the vehicle and struck a cement barricade, causing the truck to overturn.

A Whitemarsh Township police officer on the scene said that surveillance footage from nearby Giant grocery store showed a silver vehicle approach the truck on its left, but the truck then blocked the view of the vehicle, and police were unable to identify it. The officer said that no witnesses stayed on the scene to report what they saw.

He credited his seatbelt with saving his life. "I am one lucky individual," the man said.

The crash shattered the cab's driver side window of the 65,000 pound truck, he said. He said he undid his seatbelt and extricated himself from the cab on his own.

No other vehicles were involved in the accident, according to a man who said he witnessed the incident and who identified himself as Brandon Fake.

It took two heavy-duty towing rigs from Flourtown Sunoco and larger tow from Janeway Towing in Conshohocken to upright the truck, after a three-hour effort. The truck was pulled upright just before 2 p.m., and the workers were still attempting to get the truck off the scene at 2:30 p.m. All three were necessary to get the vehicle upright, which occurred just before 2 p.m.

Plymouth Township Police, Whitemarsh Township Police, and Spring Mill Fire Police are at the scene.