I-70 closed for three hours when wind turbine blade crosses into lanes

Interstate 70 northeast of Williamsport reopened after an almost three-hour closure the morning of June 30, caused by a truck's wind turbine load crossing lanes on both sides, according to Maryland State Police.

The incident occurred at about 5:30 a.m., according to the Maryland State Highway Administration.

I-70 reopened at about 8:15 a.m., state police said.

A worker reportedly had a hand injury from trying to remove a guardrail and was taken to Meritus Medical Center near Hagerstown, a Washington County 911 supervisor said.

A tractor-trailer was pulling a wind turbine blade west on I-70 at about 5:30 a.m. when the blade struck the guardrail, causing the blade to go partially into the eastbound lanes, according to an email from state highway spokesperson M. Daniel Allman.

An eastbound tractor-trailer then clipped the blade, Allman wrote.

A screenshot from a Maryland State Highway Administration camera in the area, shared on X by the agency, shows the wind turbine blade with the thinner end over the eastbound lanes. The truck cab was in the middle of the westbound lanes with the thicker end of the wind turbine behind it.

State Police Sgt. David Ward said there was no flatbed being used to transport the turbine. There was the truck, a long space and then the rear axle, he said.

The rear axle and the turbine went across the grass median from the westbound lanes into the eastbound lanes, Ward said.

Allman said heavy tow crews backed the truck up after the guardrail was cut out. The truck was driven up I-70, west of Md. 63 (Greencastle Pike) and parked on the wide shoulder.

Regarding the injured person, state police spokesperson Kyleigh Beaver wrote in an email that one person was taken via ambulance to Meritus with non-life threatening injuries.