Cement Truck Crashes into Guardrail on Hwy 27 Southbound

An early morning traffic accident causes major delays for several people and sends one man to the hospital.

A cement truck overturned on the ramp to get onto Highway 27 Southbound.

“Fire departments worked hand in hand with their training. They made the extrication as fast as they could but due to the technical difficulty of the truck being on its side, on the driver’s side…it took a long time to get the driver out, said Hamilton County Fire Department Captain Chuck Hartung.

The Red Bank Fire department was first on scene after the driver of this 18-wheeler crashed into the guardrail along Highway 27’s South ramp.

Crews worked tirelessly to rescue 56-year-old James Phillips from Georgia from the cab of the truck he was pinned in.

Authorities from the Tennessee Highway Patrol say Phillips, had just loaded cement powder on the truck  at Signal Mountain Cement when he was driving up the ramp and took the curve too fast.

“It took just under an hour to extricate the driver. It was a single driver in the cab of the truck had rolled over…where he had rolled over was against a guardrail so it took lengthy time to get him out.”

Tommy McWilliams works for another cement company and was there right after the accident.

McWilliams said this type of accident is easy to happen.

“When we load the cement trucks off the plant its powder and so when it loads its top heavy and its in the center. When you leave the plant it doesn’t have a whole lot of time to settle before you hit this curve.”

McWilliams advises its best that drivers be cautious when turning onto the ramp.

“You have to take the curve slow, but this is a bad intersection for trucks. Its a bad get on area.”

Phillips was conscious and alert when emergency crews cut him out of the cab.

He was taken to Erlanger for non-life threatening injuries.

THP cited him for failure to exercise due care.