Log truck overturns in Halifax

Five hours of traffic rerouting. What a mess.

From our friends at the Town of Halifax Police Department…

On March 12th at 6:49 am, Officers from the Halifax Police Department, Halifax County Sheriff’s Office, Virginia State Police and the Halifax Fire Department responded to 1035 Mountain Road in Halifax to investigate a single vehicle accident involving an overturned logging truck.

According to Halifax Police Officer W. G. Yancey’s report, a 1998 Freightliner tractor carrying a trailer load of logs & operated by 43 year old William P. Gravely of Glade Hill, VA was headed east on Mountain Road. As it was coming out of a curve, the load shifted causing the tractor and trailer to overturn and spill the logs onto the highway and along the shoulder of the road. The rolling logs broke a Dominion Power utility pole as well as a fire hydrant. Mountain Road was closed from Academy Street to Crawford Road; and traffic had to be rerouted for over 5 hours while the truck, tractor and logs were removed from the highway and repairs were done to the hydrant, utility pole, power, phone and cable lines. Some Halifax town residents were without power for 3 to 5 hours while utility repairs were made.

Officer Yancey estimated damages to the tractor trailer at $25,000, damages to the utility pole at $2,500, damages to the fire hydrant at $1,000 and cleanup/towing costs to be in excess of $2,000. Gravely was charged with failure to maintain proper control of his vehicle.

Here are some photos from the wreck.

Thanks go to Halifax Lt. David Irby for getting this information out.