Tractor-trailer crashes into vehicles, building in Youngwood, no one hurt
A tractor-trailer hit two parked vehicles and an occupied minivan before slamming into a Youngwood home Tuesday morning, pulling down a stop light and causing traffic backups on one of the town’s main thoroughfares.
No one was hurt in the 7:30 a.m. crash, Youngwood assistant fire Chief Bob Coletta said.
“We’re extremely lucky; all along Third Street at that time of the morning, there are kids waiting for school buses,” he said. “With the traffic light, with a lot of parked cars waiting for the light, we’re lucky the truck didn’t travel through those cars.”
Traffic on Third Street, also known as Route 119, was down to one lane throughout the morning as state police investigated and firefighters cleaned up debris at the intersection with Locust Street.
The truck driver was walking around at the scene and showed state police paperwork from his truck. He was hauling ash.
No one was inside the car parked on Third Street or the pickup parked on Locust Street. A mother and several children were traveling in the minivan. The tractor-trailer crashed into a rental unit with a garage on the first floor and apartments above. A fuel spill was contained by firefighters, Coletta said.
Etta Roderick owns the rental unit and lives next door. Three tenants live in two apartments, she said.
“It sounded like a transformer blowing up,” she said. “It felt like it was in my house.”
The jolt from the crash knocked her to the ground. Roderick grabbed her dog Oreo, and neighbor Cynthia Estes helped get her out of the house.
Estes was relieved to find that her grandson, who was waiting on Third Street for the school bus, was not hurt.
“I just heard a really loud noise and it sounded like a train wreck,” she said.
The boy was able to jump out of the way after the car parked by Estes’ house on Third Street was pushed toward her front door, she said.
“It was horrible. I’m still shaking just thinking about it,” she said. “I was convinced that he was probably hit.”
More than 20,000 vehicles travel Route 119 on a daily basis, according to a PennDOT traffic volume map. A $20 million reconstruction project is set to begin next year and will cover the area between Burton Avenue and the access to Buncher Commerce Park, is expected to cost $20 million or more. Sidewalks will be updated, with inclusion of handicapped-accessible curb ramps at intersections.
PennDOT plans to include a traffic calming measure on Route 119 with the addition of chicanes — slight curves in the edge of the road that will force motorists to weave back and forth as they travel through the town.
Renatta Signorini is a TribLive reporter covering breaking news, crime, courts and Jeannette. She has been working at the Trib since 2005. She can be reached at rsignorini@triblive.com.
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