One Dead in Ohio Highway Overpass Collapse

A construction worker was killed and a tractor-trailer driver injured when an interstate overpass undergoing demolition collapsed in Cincinnati last night, fire and emergency medical officials say. The Cincinnati Fire Department says the collapse onto southbound Interstate 75 happened near Hopple Street north of downtown at about 10:30pm. Police Chief Jeff Blackwell calls it a workplace accident, saying crews were taking down the old bridge when something went "terribly wrong."

"The big-rig driver is very lucky; in a matter of seconds his fate would have probably been different," Blackwell says. The driver was taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center with minor injuries. Fire officials say the tractor-trailer struck the collapsed section as the bridge hit the ground and the construction worker, whose name was not immediately released, was killed in the collapse. Blackwell says the city will work with the Department of Transportation to figure out what happened. He says several hundred tons of concrete had to be removed from the road, and the southbound lanes of I-75 will be closed for at least 48 hours. (More overpass stories.)