All U.S. 67 lanes where 2 died in Arkansas are reopened

The Associated Press

6/25/2008

LITTLE ROCK — All lanes of U.S. 67 and the White River Bridge in Jackson County — where an Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department (ASHTD) worker and a truck driver were killed Tuesday morning —  have been reopened, according to authorities.

Both southbound lanes and one northbound lane had been closed following the accident, which claimed the lives of ASHTD employee Bruce Fick, 47, of Newark, Ark., and trucker Patricia Porzio, 60, of Illinois.

The big rig crashed through a portable electric arrow sign and into a highway department truck parked in a work zone this morning in the southbound lanes of the U.S. 67 bridge over the White River, said Randy Ort, a spokesman for the ASHTD. He said Fick had worked for the highway department for 11 years and that his wife is also employed by the department.

The crash occurred around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, as a group of four state highway workers prepared to do maintenance and pressure-wash the deck of the bridge that carries the southbound lanes.

At the time of the crash, three workers were standing near the south end of the bridge, while Fick either stood by or was inside the state highway department truck. Ort said Porzio either ignored or didn't see the warning signs and ran through a flashing arrow sign and into the back of the state-owned truck.