The insurance company handling tire damage claims for the scrap metal spill along the Audubon Parkway is providing a sweeper truck to help remove any of the material that remains along the roadway.
The sweeper and an escort vehicle are expected to make a run down the westbound lanes of the parkway from Owensboro to Henderson starting about 6 p.m., CDT, tonight. The sweeper is expected to move at about 5 miles per hour along the westbound shoulder. Motorists should use appropriate caution when they encounter the slow-moving caravan.
If you’ll recall, starting about 11 a.m., Thursday, Kentucky Transportation Cabinet personnel, Kentucky State Police, and other agencies got numerous reports of motorists with flat tires due to the metal shards scattered along the westbound lanes of the Audubon.
Some investigative work by Kentucky State Police and their Division of Commercial Vehicle Enforcement quickly located the source of the spill and the trucking company offered to step up to compensate drivers who had tire damage.
As of today, the company had received about 70 calls from motorists with claims.
Some additional emergency vehicles involved in the effort to clear the metal from pavement last Thursday had flat tires.
According to the Kentucky State Police Division of Commercial Vehicle Enforcement, a truck owned by Legrand Trucking Company of Madison, IN, was hauling loose scrap “aluminum chops” when a rear door of the container popped open while it traveled along the Audubon Parkway, Thursday.
CVE officers said the trucking company has been very cooperative during the investigation and estimated a loss of around 1,500 pounds of the metal cargo. Much of it is believed to have scattered along the westbound lanes of the Audubon Parkway, a majority of it between the US 60 interchange and the Hebbardsville Exit at KY 416.
Kentucky Transportation Cabinet District 2 Spokesman Keith Todd said highway crews succeeded in pushing the metal off the roadway. However, by pushing it off the driving surface the material scattered along the shoulder area. The sweeper truck should be able to vacuum up the remaining metal.
The metal shards had the appearance of aluminum nails ranging from about 1 to 2 inches long. The sweeper truck is expected to take about 6 to 8 hours to cover the westbound lanes of the Audubon from mile point 24.5 at Owensboro to mile point 0.0 at Henderson. Again, the caravan will start work about 6 p.m., from the Owensboro end of the parkway.
Anyone with tire damage from the metal spill should contact Integrity Administrators at 1-866-239-2455 ext. 2278. The Claim number is 6898. Motorists will be required to provide appropriate documentation of their damage.
