Construction zone death 5th in state this year

KEY POINTS:

  • Eastbound I-70 was shut down for approximately nine hours
  • Worker was hit, killed in chain-reaction crash in construction zone
  • View construction projects all across the Miami Valley at WHIO.com/Construction

UPDATE @ 12:30 p.m. June 8

Ohio had 10 interstate construction zone deaths or fatal crashes in 2014 and four, not including this past weekend’s incident, reported so far in 2015, according to Bradley Shaw of the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s Public Affairs Unit.

UPDATE @ 10 a.m. June 8

The Ohio Department of Transportation issued the following statement regarding the fatal construction zone crash:

“We are deeply saddened by news of a deadly accident in one of our construction zones. Our thoughts and prayers are with Daniel Walker’s family and his co-workers at John R. Jurgensen. With a record number of construction projects across the state, we urgently remind motorists to please remember to pay attention and slow down while driving through work zones.”

EARLIER

A construction worker was killed in a semi-trailer crash early Sunday morning, which shut down Interstate 70 eastbound in Englewood for about nine hours.

The worker was identified as Daniel Walker, 43, of Dry Ridge, Ky., according to the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office. Walker was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol Dayton Post.

“He was on foot in the (construction) zone when he was struck,” said Lt. Mark Nichols of the OSHP.

According to state police, a dump truck tried to merge onto I-70 east in the construction zone west of North Main Street around 3:45 a.m. Sunday. The dump truck hit a semi, also traveling east, which caused the semi to lose control and hit Walker, construction equipment and a concrete barrier.

The semi driver was treated and released from a medical facility in Huber Heights, said Sgt. Chris Colbert, of the OSHP. No information was available on the dump truck driver, according to troopers.

All eastbound lanes of I-70 were shut down until early afternoon at the North Main Street exit.

No citations have been issued and criminal charges have not been filed while the crash remains under investigation by the OSHP.

“Any citations or criminal action are pending,” Colbert said. “Typically anytime we have a fatality like that, we have to wait until we get all our toxicology results back. Everything slows down a little bit.”

It could take four to six weeks to complete toxicology tests, Colbert said.

Investigators are also waiting for preliminary results from the crash reconstruction. It could take a minimum of two months before a decision is made on whether to file criminal charges or issue traffic citations, according to the OSHP.

“We’ll have a pretty good idea by then whether speed was involved,” Colbert said. “We should have the toxicology results back. Anything that could make it an aggravating circumstance we’ll know about. Then we have to get with the prosecutor and go from there.”

The speed limit in the construction zone is 55 miles per hour.