Driver in I-16 crash cited for expired license, report shows

Drone video of bridge demolition on I-16

SKYFOX 5 drone video of the GA 86 bridge demolition over I-16. The bridge had to be taken down after a tractor trailer crash early Thursday morning shifted the bridge about 6 feet. I-16 is the primary route connecting metro Atlanta to the coast.

SOPERTON, Ga. - The driver of the dump truck that dislodged a span of an overpass along Interstate 16 was cited for driving on an expired commercial driver’s license, a Georgia State Patrol report states.

The crash forced the Georgia Department of Transportation to completely demolish the State Route 86 overpass in Treutlen County late last week. Traffic along the busy interstate that connects Macon to Savannah and Hilton Head Island in South Carolina was halted for two days but has since reopened.

According to the motor vehicle crash report, the driver was driving a Peterbilt 379 hauling a hopper dump trailer westbound along I-16 during the early morning hours of July 14. Around 1 a.m. the "dump function initiator malfunctioned" and "caused the hopper to elevate the bed into the dump position."

The trailer then struck the east side of the overpass, dislodging it about four to six feet, the report states. The trailer chassis separated from both the cab and hopper and ended up stopped patricianly in the emergency lane a short distance away.

After the initial impact, the cab continued forward, swerved into the median, through the cable barrier, and ended up stopping on the shoulder of the opposing lane of travel, the report states.

The 40-year-old driver was cited for not having a valid CDL.