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UPDATED--Semi-Driver dead in 'direct hit' on Harrisburg Road Bridge

Johnathan Reaves, KASU News

Credit Johnathan Reaves, KASU News
The southbound horizontal beam on the Harrisburg bridge severely damaged.

A driver is dead after an impact at the Harrisburg bridge on I-555.   57-year-old Jackie Becker of Jonesboro was killed in the accident, according to the Jonesboro Police Department.  The  massive fire occurred after impact, but there was no word by Jonesboro Police of whether or not hazardous materials were carried by the truck.  

The accident is being investigated by the Arkansas State Police and engineers with the Arkansas Highway and  Transportation Department are assessing the seriousness of the damage to the bridge. The bridge has been described as being "compromised" and traffic is not being allowed on the bridge, due to fears of it collapsing.  

Traffic on I-555 southbound is flowing smoothly at this time.  Northbound traffic is being diverted from Caraway Road to Browns Lane.  From there, it goes to Harrisburg Road, north to Highland Drive and then re-routed to Southwest Drive.  Traffic can go back on the highway from Southwest Drive.   

More information as it becomes available.  

Johnathan Reaves is the News Director for KASU Public Radio. As part of an Air Force Family, he moved to Arkansas from Minot, North Dakota in 1986. He was first bitten by the radio bug after he graduated from Gosnell High School in 1992. While working on his undergraduate degree, he worked at KOSE, a small 1,000 watt AM commercial station in Osceola, Arkansas. Upon graduation from Arkansas State University in 1996 with a degree in Radio-Television Broadcast News, he decided that he wanted to stay in radio news. He moved to Stuttgart, Arkansas and worked for East Arkansas Broadcasters as news director and was there for 16 years.