By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
KIRO Radio reports a $20 million claim has been filed against the state Department of Transportation and its contractor Scarsella Brothers following an April incident in which a Rochester motorcyclist slammed into a dump truck at the Harrison Avenue freeway onramp in Centralia.
Scott R. Bliss, 44, of Rochester, was thrown from his Harley Davidson, and flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle on the morning of April 17, the state patrol reported at the time.
Reporter Sara Lerner writes the attorney for his longtime partner Cheryl Alton contends the truck driver was making an illegal U-turn near the Interstate 5 construction area and Bliss’s diagnosis of major brain damage has left him with less than a 10 percent chance of recovering.
Wesley G. Snelson, 61, from Galvin, was the driver of the 2004 Mack dump truck and was reportedly unhurt, according to the state patrol.
Read more here
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For background, read “News brief: I-5 construction area crash sends one to Harborview” from Friday April 17, 2015, here
Please get the facts straight. I work for myself im not some bum in a digital soup line. In fact i own my own company and have for over 15 years. Want people to contact the engineer then post the phone numbers. As for a bad locate well thats someones fault and they should be held accountable. And for bad drivers thats the other dip shits not me. I have not had any tickets or wrecks. You must be talking about those other @Ss holes. For the workers working in hot and dangerous conditions then they should get a better job, and yes i see packs of them holding up shovels and brooms. In all the the whole agenda 21 project is not welcome here.
why they do road construction there are signs up all over the place warning you to slow down. some of you people whine too much.
Lets stop and get facts before we jump to conclusions. The investigation isn’t over with the dump truck accident, this story is just basically says that is what the lawyer/gf is saying. The official report hasn’t been released or finished yet from what I’ve seen. Maybe the dump truck wasn’t doing anything wrong and the bike was doing double the speed? We all have seen how those bikes like to hotrod and show off. This could be either person’s fault.
Now as for the Mellon St change. There isn’t one person out there working that doesn’t think that is stupid how it’s designed. I would rather cut thru town than take that exit now but it’s not any of the construction workers fault, they didn’t design it but people sure blame them. If your having issues with it then contact the engineer who designed it and tell them! Just like the over done bike path down airport road, isn’t that an overkill? Yes! But what’s crazy is the state had use it or lose it money so let’s use it up. The problem is it should never be a use it or lose it, all that extra money used that didn’t need to be could have gone to fix something else…
Now for the fiber optic line… The only blame to be placed is on a bad locate. The guy doing the boring was right where he was told to be…don’t blame him, Scarsella, the state…blame the company who did the locate. If you’re not out there working then don’t act like you know what’s going on and who is responsible for what. I’m sick and tired of all you idiots…
You talk about how dangerous it is out there? Well how dangerous is it for the workers??? Extremely!!! We have dumbass drivers who don’t watch where they are going, don’t follow signs, run red lights, go hauling ass just feet from ground workers, throwing shit at workers, drunk drivers…shall I go on? These guys and gals are just trying to earn a living and go home to family. They work their ass off in heat and cold so they can try make a living and not live off the state like I bet half the people who are bitching since they have nothing else to do. I’m saying SLOW down! So it takes you 2 minutes more to get somewhere, at the most. Do you want to be responsible for killing someone?
Do I know what I’m talking about? Yes… I work out there and see this everyday
Yeah your right Ron, but its disturbing seeing this go on. What also drives me over the edge is seeing Centralia city officials driving city vehicles without wearing their seat belts and the cops just wave at them. The double standard is alive and well here in C Town. What gets me the most is if there involved in a wreck there going to get hurt worse and collect LnI. I wish citizens could police these so called county officials.
The employees you see loitering around a just following the labor union protocol, do as little as possible for as much compensation as possible. I am pretty sure that the company, Scarsella Bros. would much rather operate without having to hire union slackers.
This is an outrage the construction along the I-5 corridor is very dangerous. Last year i had a brand new tire explode and caused several thousand dollars of damage to my truck. And when they were doing construction in olympia last summer a rock took out my windshield, Scarsella bros. Left thousands of rocks on the freeway. I recorded the rocks and forced them to replace my windshield, at first they denied it until i sent them the video then there tuned changed. And furthermore whats the deal at Mellon street. It makes no sense that its a one way street now. You can no longer go left after exiting the freeway. Now you have to go all the way around and when you enter the freeway there you are now faced with cross traffic speeding onto I-5 crossing melon. Who is making these changes to our roadways that make no sense. Prayers to the injured man on the Harley. If the dump truck driver was making an illegal turn sue em into the dirt. Remember this is the same area that took out the phone lines for over two weeks. Then as compensation the phone company is offering its customers 9 dollars. What happened to call before you dig. Scarsella bros. We see your employees standing around milking the tax payers daily. Companys like this are a Mafia.