18-wheeler hits bridge in Georgetown: police

18-wheeler hits bridge in Georgetown: police

An 18-wheeler hit a bridge on I-35 in Georgetown. There were no injuries reported.

GEORGETOWN, Texas - An 18-wheeler hit a bridge on I-35 in Georgetown Thursday evening.

What we know:

According to Texas DPS, on Thursday, June 5, around 4:16 p.m., troopers responded to a crash involving an 18-wheeler on northbound I-35 at the CR 143 overpass. 

The truck was towing a flatbed trailer carrying an excavator when the load hit the bridge. The crash caused concrete debris to fall on the road.

The driver of the truck immediately pulled over to the shoulder. 

There were no injuries reported. 

A preliminary investigation revealed the bridge clearance was 16 feet 7½ inches and the load, combined with the trailer, measured at 16 feet 8¼ inches, which exceeded the clearance limit. 

Due to the damage, the bridge is closed. It is currently unknown how long the bridge will be closed.

Improving road safety in Williamson County

Dig deeper:

The crash came the same week Williamson County Commissioners approved a grant application to focus on improving road safety. It's called the Safe Streets and Roads For All Program, or SS4.

"We have such an increase in population as well traffic, of course," said Williamson County Commissioner Valerie Covey. "With that has come multiple wrecks and even fatalities, so we want to address the safety concerns that we have."

According to data from Williamson County, there were more than 44,000 crashes on county roads between 2019 and 2023. 229 of them were deadly and another 1,000 were serious-injury crashes.

Covey is hopeful the grant will lower that number. The total amount of funding is 28 million.

The federal government would give the county 20 million for road improvements. The county, Round Rock, Cedar Park, Georgetown, and Taylor would shoulder the other eight million.

"It’s an important amount when you’re talking about life and safety issues, and so we hope that we are successful in getting our grant," said Covey.

The grant could help pay for more than a dozen projects, including the SW Bypass at I-35.

"That has become a problem area, and so one of the projects on the list for the grant is to move the on-ramp to I-35 south and that will give the drivers more room to merge onto I-35 to help with the traffic problems but also make it much safer," said Covey.

The grant also has to be approved by the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy.

"I’m hoping that it’s soon but, of course, if you ask the public, it won’t be soon enough," said Covey.

Along with road construction, funding could also help projects for pedestrians.