A moving truck went off Emporia’s West US Highway 50 roundabout Saturday night, heavily damaging the truck and dumping the load but causing no injuries to anybody inside.
Emporia Police and Emporia Fire responded to the roundabout shortly before 9:45 pm. Officers say the driver, currently unnamed, didn’t realize he was going through a roundabout until it was too late. The truck went off the road, tipped over and slid down an embankment. Two sides of the truck were sheared off and the entire load was spilled in the process.
Two people were reported inside and were checked on site but declined hospital trips afterward. Traffic was allowed past the crash zone throughout the investigation process, keeping the roundabout open. It took over two hours for the scene to be cleared, including having a second moving truck brought to the site.
The roundabout saw numerous semi tipover crashes for several years after it was built in 2009 as part of a project to eliminate the so-called “spaghetti bowl” of ramps connecting Highway 50 to Interstate 35 and the Kansas Turnpike. After the roundabout was redesigned in 2012, the highway junction went until 2017 without any reported tip-overs. The semi rollover accidents now happen occasionally at the roundabout.
