A box truck tore through the side of a building at a sprawling Ambridge distribution center early Tuesday morning, leaving both the structure and the vehicle with heavy damage. The crash happened around 6:45 a.m. at the Ambridge Regional Distribution and Manufacturing Center along Duss Avenue, and it remains unclear what caused the truck to leave the roadway. The man and woman inside the truck suffered minor injuries.
According to CBS Pittsburgh, the truck slammed into the side of the business, and both the building and the vehicle sustained heavy damage in the impact. Federal carrier records identify Coleman Box Boys LLC and list USDOT number 4348389, according to SAFER Web. Those same federal records show the carrier had zero recorded roadside inspections before the crash.
An Industrial Park
The crash site itself is no small operation. The Ambridge Regional Distribution and Manufacturing Center spans 85 acres along Duss Avenue across Ambridge Borough and Harmony Township, with 22 buildings offering more than 1 million square feet of leasable industrial and warehouse space, making it one of the largest industrial business parks in Beaver County.
The property's history stretches back more than a century. Originally developed in 1903 by Spang, Chalfant & Company, the site later served as the local home of Armco Steel Corporation from the mid-1950s until 1985, when the plant's closure wiped out 1,200 local manufacturing jobs, according to the property's own historical account. Private developers purchased the site in 1988 and converted it into the multi-tenant commercial park it is today, and the land underwent multi-year environmental remediation before receiving official clearance under Pennsylvania's Act 2 Land Recycling Program in 2011, with state environmental officials approving the site's baseline environmental report back in October 2010.
Why Trucks Line Up on Duss Avenue
The center is about 11 miles from Shell's petrochemical cracker plant in Beaver County.
Employees and a community member raised concerns about speeding at an intersection after a child was hit, per WPXI.
What Happens Next
Emergency response to crashes and structural damage along Duss Avenue is typically coordinated through the Borough of Ambridge Municipal Building at 600 11th Street, which houses both the Ambridge Police Department and Ambridge Fire Department and sits just blocks from the crash site. Pennsylvania Vehicle Code limits standard commercial box trucks to a maximum legal height of 13 feet, 6 inches and a maximum width of 8 feet, 6 inches without special oversize hauling permits, the dimensional boundaries that govern freight vehicles like the one involved in Tuesday's crash.
For now, the cause of the crash remains unclear. CBS Pittsburgh reported that the man and woman inside the truck suffered minor injuries. Harmony Township Police Chief Juan Villagomez said the portion of the building struck was believed to be unoccupied, and Pennsylvania State Police troopers were expected to respond to inspect the truck.
