A semi-truck smashed through a barrier on the Martin Luther King Drive overpass in Avondale on Sunday evening and was left dangling above Interstate 71, according to footage captured by news cameras at the scene. The crash happened at approximately 5:15 p.m., and it remained unclear what caused the truck to break through the barrier and hang above the busy interstate below.
Cincinnati police responded to the crash and remained on scene as officers worked to assess the situation, according to WLWT. Whether anyone was hurt in the crash was not immediately known, and Cincinnati police were expected to release more information soon. Liquid was seen leaking from the semi-truck onto the roadway below, per cameras at the scene, though what the liquid was has not been disclosed.
A Corridor Built for Heavy Traffic
The Martin Luther King Drive overpass extends across I-71 in a stretch of roadway that has seen its share of trouble. The interchange itself was part of an $80 million transportation project that fully opened in 2017, designed to connect the interstate directly to Cincinnati's Uptown employment and medical hub, according to the Uptown Consortium. That means the overpass regularly handles heavy commuter and commercial truck volume tied to nearby hospitals and university campuses.
Ohio Department of Transportation design guidelines require rigid concrete barriers, rather than flexible metal guardrails, along bridge overpasses specifically to protect structural supports and keep vehicles from plummeting onto the roadway below, per the Ohio Department of Transportation. Whether the concrete barrier on the MLK overpass sustained structural damage from Sunday's impact remains an open question.
A Pattern of Truck Crashes on Cincinnati Overpasses
Sunday's crash is not the first time a commercial truck has broken through an overpass barrier in Cincinnati. In April 2019, a semi-truck carrying two passengers overturned and fell off an overpass ramp connecting northbound I-471 to Third Street, landing upside down and requiring 30 rescue workers to extricate the occupants, according to WHIO TV. And in November 2020, a jackknifed semi collided with another truck carrying hazardous chemicals on the Brent Spence Bridge, sparking a 400-gallon fuel fire that shut the overpass down for weeks, per Coluccio Law.
Just three weeks before Sunday's crash, severe storm winds toppled a tree onto a semi-truck on I-71 in Cincinnati, crushing the cab and closing the highway for hours, according to WCPO 9. And in May, a 39-year-old truck driver died after his vehicle struck a wall and caught fire under an I-71 overpass near the Lytle Tunnel in downtown Cincinnati, as reported by 101.1 The Wiz.
Hamilton County's Outsized Truck Crash Toll
The pattern reflects a broader trend across the region. Between 2019 and 2023, Hamilton County recorded 8,453 traffic accidents involving commercial motor vehicles, resulting in 25 fatalities and 115 serious injuries, according to Ohio State Highway Patrol data cited by the Burg Simpson Law Firm. Freight safety data compiled by the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments shows Hamilton County accounts for 25% of all commercial truck-involved crash fatalities across the eight-county metropolitan region.
Through late September 2024, Hamilton County had recorded 31,783 total traffic accidents, including 45 fatal crashes and 3,263 serious injuries, according to the law firm Kisling, Nestico & Redick. Statewide, the Ohio State Highway Patrol investigated more than 32,000 traffic crashes during just the first eight months of 2026.
Whether secondary collisions occurred on the lower interstate lanes as the semi-truck hung above traffic has not been reported. The condition of the driver and the exact cause of Sunday's crash also remain unknown as Cincinnati police continue working the scene. This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
