From the St. Paul Pioneer Press
Posted on Sat, Jun. 26, 2004
SUV travels road to ruin
Damage by Twin Cities driver tops $80,000
BY KEVIN HARTER
Pioneer Press
Soon after a boy riding his bike was told to steer clear of freshly poured concrete on a road-widening project between Stillwater and Somerset last week, a Twin Cities woman drove her SUV around orange barrels and churned though more than 1,000 feet of wet concrete, according to authorities.
Her insurance company will be getting a bill for at least $80,000 to remove and replace the damaged stretch of Wisconsin 35/64 roadway, just north of County Road V, which was re-poured Friday, said Wisconsin transportation officials and the project contractor.
The St. Croix County Sheriff's Department investigated the June 17 incident, Sheriff Dennis Hillstead said, but no charges have been filed. The woman is not being identified because it was determined to be an accident.
"I've seen it happen before, but nothing like this," said Jim Bednar, project manager for SEH, a Rice Lake-based engineering firm. "Usually when it happens, they drive 20 to 40 feet, not 1,000."
The woman, who had two child passengers in the SUV, drove onto the fresh concrete despite road-construction signs, orange barriers and parked construction vehicles, Bednar said.
The 9-inch thick roadway had been poured about four hours before, said Bednar, and the bottom 4 inches had begun to harden. The woman continued driving as the SUV sunk into the top 5 inches of the concrete.
"She must have put it in four-wheel-drive to keep going," he said.
Work crews didn't witness the incident, but when they returned later, they called the sheriff and began looking for the vehicle. The boy on his bike who had been told to stay off the wet pavement told them he saw the driver and gave a description.
The driver was soon located, Bednar said, and she said that while she did not stop initially, she planned to return to the scene.