Lost steel coil snarls interstate ramp

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

The ramp from northbound Interstate 65 to westbound Interstate 80/94 was closed for almost two hours Thursday morning after a steel coil fell off a semitrailer.

According to a news release from the Indiana State Police, a 2003 International semitrailer flatbed driven by Farold Bryant, 42, of Newbern, Ala., lost one of the five steel coils it was carrying as it entered into the first curve on the ramp. The tractor-trailer directly behind it was able to avoid the coil, but a 2004 Freightliner box trailer wasn’t so lucky.

Driver Donald Hartkoorn, 57, of Calumet City, Ill., hit the coil. Hartkoorn was not injured.

A 2005 Peterbilt box trailer behind Hartkoorn tried to swerve out of the way, but its passenger-side trailer tires also hit the coil. Driver Mihai Tatar, 51, of Chicago, was not injured.

Bryant was cited for improperly secured coils.

The incident took place at approximately 9:18 a.m. Two lanes of the I-65 north to I-80 westbound were closed for almost two hours for removal of the Freightliner and reloading of the coil.