Massive turbine blade slices into Bradenville business, ties up traffic in Derry Township

A giant blade destined for a wind turbine pierced the wall of a Derry Township business Tuesday morning when the trucker hauling the oversize load was unable to navigate a sharp, 90-degree turn on Route 982.

“I was standing there, and the next thing you know it was in my building,” said George Piper, owner of Zeb’s auto shop in the village of Bradenville.

The center of the southbound blade came close to a home on the opposite corner of the Route 982 turn while the tail end missed an SUV parked outside as it penetrated about a foot into the side of the shop, Piper said.

Piper said, during his 32 years in business, his building has been struck by several vehicles that failed to make the turn. But this was the first time the shop was skewered by a massive blade.

“It could have been worse. It could have hit both buildings,” Piper said. “It was about 10 inches from the corner house.”

Township officials estimated the blade was close to 160 feet long.

The blade sliced into the shop’s siding and broke through the wooden wall, Piper said.

“It’s not that big. It’s not that noticeable,” he said, adding the siding “kind of closed back up once they pulled the blade out of it.”

The blade got stuck after 8 a.m. and shut down traffic on a section of Route 982 for more than two hours, according to Jim Prohaska, chairman of the township supervisors.

“That was a surprise,” he said. “That’s the biggest thing I’ve ever seen come through Bradenville, and I’ve been here 64 years.

“All our roads are (winding) for something of that magnitude.”

Members of Derry Township Volunteer Fire Department Company No. 1 were ready to respond from their nearby station, where they’d just returned from the scene of a shed fire, fire Chief Mark Piantine said.

Firefighters handled traffic control, with an assist from state police, rerouting traffic along two side streets.

Even if the trailer hauling the blade had managed to make the turn by Zeb’s, it would have faced another sharp angle a short block farther on, where the road turns again to pass under Norfolk Southern railroad tracks.

“There was no way they were going through the railroad underpass,” Piantine said.

The supervisors learned the turbine blade was being hauled from Ebensburg to Iowa.

Once the blade was freed, the rig backed up north on Route 982 and pulled into the lot at the township municipal building.

Don Kepple, supervisors vice chairman, said the driver didn’t leave until nearly 6:30 p.m., after having a new route approved by PennDOT.

The rig returned north on Route 982 and was expected to turn west onto Route 22, following Toll Route 66 to Interstate 70, Kepple said.

In addition to problems making turns, the rig experienced repeated failure of equipment used to steer the rear axle, according to Kepple.

Local officials said they can’t understand why the blade’s original route sent it along Route 982 toward the tight turns in Bradenville.

“Usually, you see those loads going down the road on the turnpike or some major highway,” Kepple said.

The name of the company hauling the blade and other details weren’t available Tuesday afternoon from PennDOT or state police.

Another wind turbine blade that hit a bump in the road caused far worse traffic chaos last week in Maryland.

Washington’s NBC4/WRC-TV reported the blade separated from the truck that was hauling it early June 30 on Interstate 70 near Hagerstown. When the blade fell, it straddled the grassy median, blocking one westbound lane and two eastbound lanes, according to the report.

Traffic was blocked near the intersection of Interstate 81 until later that morning.

In Derry Township, Piper was waiting for an insurance adjuster to visit his shop. He said he’ll leave it up to his insurance company to get a damage settlement from the trucking company’s insurer.

“It was a different morning,” he said.