Semi tractor-trailer overturns after exiting Black Hawk Bridge at Lansing ...
Tuesday, January 14, at 10:32 a.m., the Allamakee County Sheriff’s E911 Center received a report of a single-vehicle semi tractor-trailer rollover at the intersection of Iowa Highway 26 and Wisconsin Highway 82 on the west end of the Black Hawk Bridge in Lansing. An initial statement released by the Allamakee County Sheriff’s office reported that the semi tractor and livestock trailer heading westbound from Wisconsin was exiting the Black Hawk Bridge to the north onto Iowa 26, failing to negotiate the right-hand turn and rolling onto its side. Allamakee County Sheriff Clark Mellick further reported that the driver, who was not injured in the crash, stated that the brakes on the semi tractor appeared to have malfunctioned, causing the turn to be made at a less controlled rate of speed and resulting in the momentum of the trailer load of cattle overturning the entire vehicle (as pictured in each of the photos above and below provided by the Allamakee County Sheriff’s Office).
The semi trailer was loaded with 75 head of cattle, all of which were contained within the trailer after the accident before being transferred from the overturned trailer to other livestock trailers (as pictured above) and transported to a nearby location to be held temporarily until they could be hauled to their intended destination. Two of the cattle died as a result of the accident, but no other injuries were reported.
“We feel the response went very well in regards to removing the livestock from the overturned trailer, and we appreciate the assistance of the individuals that supplied livestock trailers and equipment at the scene,” Sheriff Mellick said. He also noted the black Sheriff’s truck in the middle of the photo above was placed there to help secure the portable gates used in moving the cattle and was not involved in the accident.
Although traffic traveling across the bridge to and from Lansing to the south was able to continue to flow by controlled means most of the time the accident was being tended to by emergency responders, Iowa 26 traffic from the north was shut down for approximately three hours by the accident, including during the uprighting of the tractor-trailer combination by the two Hennessy Towing trucks from Waukon (as pictured below). Responding to the scene were the Lansing Police Department, Allamakee County Sheriff’s Office, Lansing Fire Department, New Albin Fire Department, Allamakee County Emergency Management and the Iowa Department of Transportation.
