{"id":47519,"date":"2025-11-15T06:30:15","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T06:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/47519\/"},"modified":"2025-11-15T06:30:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T06:30:15","slug":"us-301-back-open-in-wildwood-after-excavator-strikes-overpass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/47519\/","title":{"rendered":"US-301 back open in Wildwood after excavator strikes overpass"},"content":{"rendered":"

WILDWOOD, Fla. \u2013 A crash<\/a> Friday in Sumter County<\/a> prompted the closure of Florida\u2019s Turnpike, the Florida Highway Patrol said.<\/p>\n

All roads are back open now.<\/p>\n

The crash happened on U.S. 301 south at the Turnpike.<\/p>\n

The FHP said a tractor-trailer hauling an oversized load \u2014 later revealed to be carrying an excavator \u2014 collided with the overpass to Florida\u2019s Turnpike.<\/p>\n

Florida’s Turnpike near US-301, where a semi crashed into a bridge. (Copyright 2025 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

The piece of heavy equipment became lodged beneath the bridge as it passed under U.S. 301 near Wildwood. The impact sent the excavator\u2019s boom into concrete girders, prompting the Florida Department of Transportation structure inspectors and crews to respond immediately.<\/p>\n

North and southbound lanes of the Turnpike were closed while FDOT inspectors evaluated the bridge span. Inspectors placed protective covering on the affected area to prevent debris from falling onto passing traffic.<\/p>\n

The Turnpike was reopened at 1:10 p.m. after the span was deemed safe. <\/p>\n

“A tractor-trailer traveling southbound on US-301 with an oversize load collided with the Florida Turnpike overpass in Sumter County. North and Southbound lanes of the Turnpike were closed while FDOT inspectors evaluated the bridge span. The Turnpike was re-opened at 1:10 PM after the span was deemed safe. No injuries were reported.” (FHP)<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, officials said the excavator was removed from beneath the bridge around 3:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo injuries have been reported,\u201d FDOT representatives said. <\/p>\n

Crews are expected to wrap and cover damaged beams and carry out structural assessments; the roadway will remain closed until the bridge is formally deemed safe for travel.<\/p>\n

No injuries were reported.<\/p>\n

Local witnesses described a frightening scene. James Blake, who works at the Florida Citrus Center near the bridge, said \u201cIt\u2019s been stuck under there for almost three hours now,\u201d he said, describing the slow flow of vehicles in the area.<\/p>\n

Another driver caught in the congestion, Nick Fish, called the incident \u201cvery unusual and scary because it\u2019s a bridge,\u201d and noted the heavy presence of repair crews on site.<\/p>\n

Authorities continue to investigate the circumstances that caused the excavator to collide with the bridge and are coordinating traffic control and repair operations.<\/p>\n

[VIDEO BELOW: Legal in Florida to back into a parking spot?]<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WILDWOOD, Fla. \u2013 A crash Friday in Sumter County prompted the closure of Florida\u2019s Turnpike, the Florida Highway…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47029,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1776,28,30,29,7162,3315,729,17139],"class_list":["post-47519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-crash","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-floridas-turnpike","tag-sumter-county","tag-traffic","tag-wildwood"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}