NTSB Eyes Corrosion in Fatal PA Turnpike Crash
A fatal accident in a Pennsylvania Turnpike tunnel in February was likely caused by the corrosion of steel straps that were holding up electrical conduit, according to a newly released preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board.
Truck driver Howard M. Sexton, of East Greenwich, New Jersey, died Feb. 21 in the crash after a length of conduit fell from the ceiling of the Lehigh Tunnel and struck him in the head. Only Sexton’s truck was involved in the accident; no other injuries were reported.
According to the NTSB, Sexton was traveling southbound on I-495—the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike—around 6 p.m. that day when a 10-foot stretch of metal conduit broke free from its steel support and fell, hitting the windshield of his truck.
The truck continued on through the tunnel for more than half a mile before coming to a rest at the side of the road.
System Being Replaced
The NTSB accident report explains that a 2016 inspection of the tunnel found corrosion on some of the steel straps keeping the conduit affixed to the tunnel ceiling. The preliminary report does not specify a probable cause, but the summary focuses on the corrosion that had been found on the part that ultimately failed and caused the wreck.
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| Pennsylvania State Police, via NTSB |
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Truck driver Howard M. Sexton, of East Greenwich, New Jersey, died Feb. 21 in the crash after a length of conduit fell from the ceiling of the tunnel and struck him in the head. |
The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission was already in the process of issuing a contract for the replacement of the lighting and electrical system for the tunnel, a job that will involve moving the conduit from its current location to the sides of the tunnels. That work is expected to be done in the affected tunnel in October.
