Wayward semi snags Chester traffic
Shawn Cunningham | Jul 21, 2022 | Comments 2
By Shawn Cunningham
© 2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC
Crumpled bits of guardrail can be seen under the rear end of the tractor trailer. Photos by Barre Pinske, Cover photo by Shawn Cunningham
At 9:43 p.m. the State Police dispatch center in Westminster announced that Route 103 in the area of Route 11 was “impassable” due to a disabled tractor trailer. Chester Police on the scene told The Telegraph that the driver was apparently following GPS and drove up Depot Street instead of continuing on Main Street.
At Depot and Maple the driver attempted to turn right, ran across the lawn of the house on the southwest corner of Depot and tore up portions of the guardrail there. At that point the truck could go no farther.
One of S.G. Reed’s heavy wreckers gets to work lifting the stranded semi off the guardrail
Chester Police and Fire went to the scene to provide traffic control and S.G. Reed sent a heavy wrecker and other vehicles to free the stuck truck.
In the meantime, Church Street became “alternate 103” with cars and tractor trailers trekking through the residential neighborhood for hours. By 12:30 a.m., the road had been cleared and normal traffic resumed.
Filed Under: Chester • Latest News
I see trucks make that right at 103 all the time? they slow down and swing wide.??? heading north as well as south? They even did work on the house’s front lawn to make it a little wider? Why would they be on 1st ave or worse yet? Coach? Church street bypasses the whole problem?
Come out the other side of town.
It would be nice if we could figure out a way to let truckers know they can loop around on First Avenue back to 103. I’m guessing a wrong turn or missing a turn in Chester could create a problem pretty quickly and lead to a poor decision such as this. I have seen a truck have back stop on 103 and back up onto coach road by my place which caused havoc.