The northbound feeder of US 59 at SH 242 was reopened shortly after 2 p.m. Wednesday. Wednesday morning just after 9 a.m. Robert Smith Jr., 32, of Livingston was driving a Mack truck owned by Anderson Trucking. He left the West Montgomery County area with a load of burned timber heading for the mill in Cleveland. As he turned north on the feeder of US 59 at SH 242 his truck rolled over on its side. Smith, who was not wearing a seat belt was slightly injured but refused EMS transport.
As Patton Village and Woodbranch provided traffic control a DPS Commercial Vehicle Trooper stood by as the truck was righted to inspect it.
A truck from C and L Logging from Livingston was brought in to load the logs for the trip to the mill. The Anderson Truck was found to have several violations including the trailer brakes not properly set and a tire issue. Officials feel he just turned the corner to quickly. The load was chained down at the time of the crash.
Even though the load looked overweight it was just barely legal. During the fire, most of the moisture was removed from the trees causing extremely light loads but also a smaller payoff at the mill. With a permit, the gross vehicle weight of a truck of this type can be slightly over 80,000 pounds (40 tons).
