HUTCHINSON — A man was killed Thursday after the semitrailer he was driving crashed into an overpass at the U.S. 50 and K-96 junction about a mile west of South Hutchinson.
The semi was traveling eastbound at 12:30 p.m. Thursday when it hit a concrete pillar of the overpass on the south side of the highway.
"He was eastbound and for some reason struck the bridge," Kansas Highway Patrol Trooper Steven Morris said of the driver, who was identified as Michael J. Rice, 41, of Canyon, Texas. The semi was from a trucking company in Texas, according to Reno County Sheriff's Capt. Wayne Baughman.
No other vehicles were involved in the crash. It took Reno County firefighters more than an hour to remove the man from the truck.
The semi was hauling bags of grain sorghum when it struck the overpass, blanketing the ditch with debris.
The Kansas Highway Patrol's Critical Accident Response Team was called to the scene, and patrol troopers were still at the scene by 6 p.m. Thursday, a dispatcher for the patrol confirmed.
A representative from the Kansas Department of Transportation was also at the scene to inspect the bridge for damage, Baughman said.
"A KDOT representative is checking, but it didn't look like there was any damage at all to (the bridge) except for the scrapes that can be seen from the impact," he said.