Buckets, braces and safety briefings were among the talking points for the crew of five men in fluorescent ?yellow vests.
“We gotta fix it tonight,” Irwin said at about 10 p.m. Monday, adding that his crew could be out until 4 or 5 a.m. Tuesday morning.
A flatbed semi-truck went off East Third Street near Smith Road earlier that evening, crashing into utility poles and affecting a Duke Energy customer’s electricity.
The truck was traveling west on East Third Street, merged into the other lane on the north side of the road and crashed into the utility pole. Three poles were affected and needed ?replacement, Irwin said.
Duke Energy footed the bill for the new poles and will be reimbursed once the flatbed driver’s insurance information is reported, ?Irwin said.
Bloomington police, Comcast and USIC ?Locating Services, a subsidiary of United States Infrastructure Corporation, briefly joined Irwin’s crew at the scene. Comcast sent an ?employee to remove a box from the top of a pole. The USIC employee spent about 30 ?minutes surveying the site in search of underground utility locations.
“We’ll put a new pole in after he locates all utilities,” Irwin said, motioning to the USIC employee.
The Bloomington Police Department filed a report, which was sent to the state, Capt. Joe Qualters said.
There is a 24-hour ?turnaround on accidents and getting them back from the state, Qualters said. At of the end of the work day Tuesday, BPD had nothing to provide because they had not gotten the report back. There is no other narrative or driver information listed in the BPD system.
BPD was able to confirm the driver was not intoxicated, however there “may have been a medical condition,” Qualters said.
“I don’t know if (the driver) fell asleep or what,” Comcast employee Steve Mcartor said. “It happens all the time. Pole wrecks are very common.”
