Fort Lauderdale

I-95 repairs to begin next week following bakery truck crash in Fort Lauderdale

 
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Fort Lauderdale police have yet to release the name of a man who was killed in a bizarre traffic accident Wednesday morning when a bakery truck missed a ramp, crashed into a barrier and wound up dangling off Interstate 95, but road repairs will begin shortly.

The driver, 53-year-old Buenaventura Fernandez Jr., was treated for minor injuries Wednesday at Broward Health Medical Center and released later in the day.

But his passenger died in the crash. His name had not been released Friday pending notification of next of kin.

Mary Rodriguez, manager of Tracy Bakery, said the passenger wasn’t an employee of the family-owned business. “We don’t even know who he is,” she said.

Drivers are not allowed to have passengers in the delivery truck, she added. “They know that very clearly.”

Fernandez hasn’t been back to work, and a spokesman for Tracy Bakery wouldn’t say if Fernandez would return.

Fernandez could not be reached for comment.

The accident took place when the truck hit the barrier wall on the westbound ramp to State Road 84 from northbound Interstate 95.

The crash left the cab of the truck dangling over I-95 for two hours while emergency workers completed a precarious rescue.

While the truck was dangling, diesel and engine fluid leaked onto the soil below, said Florida Department of Transportation spokeswoman Barbara Kelleher.

A HAZMAT team surveyed the area Thursday, she said. The team may have to dig up patches of earth to remove the leaked hazardous fluids. The FDOT will begin repairing the road after the HAZMAT team finishes cleaning up the area.

“We’re shooting for starting on our [part] on Tuesday,” Kelleher said.

A 10-foot section of the concrete barrier wall needs to be repaired. Workers set up a temporary barrier of plywood 2-by-4s and barricades with flashing lights Wednesday in the shoulder of the road.

The lanes are not closed and traffic isn’t affected.

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