Cable barrier in Oklahoma stops truck sliding on I-40 ice

The miracle was in the steel cables, Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper Adam Wood said.

He witnessed a tractor-trailer wipeout on ice Tuesday as multiple wrecks were happening west of Fort Smith on Interstate 40 in Sequoyah County.

Wood, a trooper out of the Tulsa detachment assigned to eastern Oklahoma, was parked on the shoulder of westbound I-40 about a mile east of Vian at 9:45 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 31 near the bridge over Little Vian Creek.

Fort Smith weather: Ice storm warning issued for noon Wednesday

There had been a bad wreck on ice to his west, and Wood was parked to alert other westbound drivers of the other wreck. Wood's patrol car had flashing lights activated to alert other drivers to slow down. And then he saw it coming, an eastbound tractor-trailer sliding out of control ahead of his patrol car.

'This could have been so much worse!'

The dashboard camera in Wood's patrol car captured the harrowing experience. On Twitter, an OHP spokesperson tweeted the video and a sentence that summed it up, "This could have been so much worse!"

Wood talked about what he saw take place in front of him.

"I was on the westbound shoulder, providing traffic control for another partner up the road that was working an ice-related crash," Wood said. "He was finishing up with that collision and that's when I saw the bad semi-truck crash right in front of me there."

Road conditions were going downhill in a wintry mix of sleet and ice Tuesday before noon. Bridges and overpasses were treacherous.

"Up ahead in the eastbound traffic, I see a big truck mixed in with other cars and trucks, and one of the semi-trucks lost control on an icy bridge and basically plowed into the cable barrier.

On the stretch of I-40 in Sequoyah County, the steel cable barriers rise about 3 feet above the ground on posts in the median.

The tractor-trailer sliding out of control weighed about 30,000 pounds, Wood said, who works in the truck size and weight enforcement division with the patrol. The trailer was empty, luckily, he said.

The rig hit the barrier as westbound vehicles neared it.

"All I could think of was to say a quick prayer that everybody was okay," Wood said.

The video shows the barrier bend but not break. The truck then slid back to the south in the median, and then slid precariously back to the north and into the cables where it came to rest.

"I got up there as expediently as I could given the icy conditions," Wood said. "You know that is all I could think of. Was everybody okay?"

There were no injuries, and no other vehicles hit the tractor-trailer. The driver was ticketed for going too fast for road conditions.

"That was a miracle. Whoever invented that cable barrier, that was a blessing too because that saved a lot of lives right there and in the past, I'll tell you that for sure," Wood said.

Repairs ahead

With another round of ice expected through Thursday, the damaged cable barrier east of Vian will not likely be fixed before the end of the week, Wood said.

"It takes a few days for those to be repaired, so no it won't be repaired at least for the rest of the week I would say," Wood said.

T.J. Gerlach, an Oklahoma Department of Transportation spokesman in Tulsa, said it could take several weeks before all repairs are completed from the ice storm. But he said if the cable barrier is not on the ground, it will continue to work to stop vehicles from crossing over into oncoming traffic.

"These cable barriers are safety devices we use to prevent crossover collisions," Gerlach said. "The cables deflect crash impacts and vehicles usually do not bounce back like if they hit a concrete barrier, so it lessens the impact to drivers and passengers."

He said ODOT crews will begin inspecting all damaged barriers and roadways that will likely also have potholes left from the ice.

"Once we get through with our winter weather operations, we will inspect for potholes and for any and all safety repairs," Gerlach said.

Wood said troopers were ready Wednesday for more wintry weather.

"We're as prepared as we can be. We're spread pretty thin you know but we do the best that we can and we just really ask the people, and the drivers that if they don't absolutely have to get out to please stay at home and do the best you can," Wood said.

He said anyone who has to get out should check on Oklahoma or Arkansas road conditions before leaving.

"Always watch the bridges and overpasses, that is where we've had the most trouble, with slick bridges," Wood said.

This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Eastern Oklahoma cable barrier stops big rig from hitting other cars