The Kansas Highway Patrol says a “mechanical malfunction” caused a Kansas Department of Transportation truck to hit a bridge over Interstate 35 in Johnson County on Thursday afternoon.
The crash happened at about 2:25 p.m. in the southbound lanes of I-35 at 167th Street in Olathe.
Troopers said that the malfunction raised the tank on the bed of the KDOT truck, causing the tank to hit the bridge.
The impact sheared the truck’s dump bed from the chassis and flipped it upside down. The tank was carrying brine water used during snow removal operations.
A Johnson County Med-Act ambulance transported the driver, a 65-year-old Olathe resident, to an area hospital with what the Highway Patrol described as a “suspected minor injury.”
No other vehicles were involved in the crash.
KDOT inspected the bridge and determined that it was safe for traffic to continue flowing underneath.
The 167th Street bridge is already closed to all traffic due to ongoing construction between Hedge Lane and Clare Road.
Cleanup of the overturned dump bed and damaged truck forced Troopers to close the right lane of southbound I-35 for several hours, causing traffic to back up about three and a half miles to 151st Street.
All lanes reopened before 5 p.m.
