Semi removed from St. Mary's Road after 28-hour operation

TDS Heavy Towing & Recovery talks about the process

(ST. MARY’S, Ind.) – An oversized semi tractor-trailer has been removed after being stuck for nearly 30 hours on a rural Ripley County road. 

The semi was traveling away from Penntown when it was unable to negotiate a curved area of St. Mary’s Road near East County Road 1500 North.

It went off the road around 6 a.m. Tuesday and was not fully removed until 10 a.m. Wednesday. 

The semi was hauling a 130,000 pound transformer. It's overall weight was close to 200,000 pounds and was 127 feet long and 16 feet tall. 

TDS Heavy Towing & Recovery was initially called by the company around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday to remove the semi from the ditch, which was accomplished within a few hours.

“After getting them out, the company wanted us to help them replace a motor on the trailer. This would allow them to navigate better and they also said that's one reason it was in the ditch, other than the obvious wrong route,” said TDS owner Ryan Kegley. 

The road was reopened as an engine replacement took place during the mid-afternoon.

Later in the day, TDS was on standby when the semi attempted to turn around, however, that was not successful. That forced the road to close again.

“They decided the only option was to back the multi-pivot/13-axle tractor trailer out. They attempted that too, then got hung up on the first steep grade,” he said.

Two TDS wreckers worked to get the semi through the curved hills, which took a significant amount of time. 

“Due to the pivots, weight, and length, the wreckers had to be used to get the superload back to the interstate,” Kegley added. “This was a very rare occurrence for a tractor trailer, of that weight, to be stuck on St Marys Road.” 

Kegley said this was far from a normal roadside operation and took far more time than the majority of their jobs. 

TDS Heavy Towing & Recovery is a 24-hour operation located in New Point. You can get more information about them by clicking here. 

Other agencies on scene included the Ripley County Sheriff’s Office, Ripley County Highway, INDOT and the Indiana State Police.

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