An Antigo man is dead after a semi-tractor/trailer flipped over in the Town of Hartland.
On May 19 at 4:54 a.m., the Shawano County Sheriff’s Department dispatch center received the call about the crash on state Highway 29 near Porter Road. Initial reports indicted the driver was trapped inside the vehicle on the eastbound lanes of the highway.
Sheriff’s deputies responded to the scene along with fire and emergency medical service units. Upon arrival, the eastbound lanes were completely blocked due to the crash. The driver of the semi, a 59-year-old man, was trapped inside the cab and pronounced dead.
Preliminary investigation indicates the semi-truck was traveling westbound on the highway in the right lane through the construction zone. In this area of the construction zone, there was a large section of roadway cut out in the left lane which had orange traffic posts around it. The driver side tire entered this cut out causing the tire to blow and the semi-truck driver to lose control. The semi then flipped over into the median. The trailer came to rest in the median, and the semi cab came to rest in the eastbound lanes of Highway 29. Both the semi-tractor and trailer sustained severe damage.
Witnesses reported they observed the semi traveling westbound, enter the median and flip over.
No further details, including the names of the individual, will be released at this time as the investigation remains ongoing, according to a sheriff’s department press release.
