Speeding not a factor in I-35W work zone crash

Posted at 12:28 PM on October 14, 2011 by Paul Tosto
Filed under: Transportation

Minnesota State Patrol officers investigating Thursday's fatal highway work zone crash in Burnsville are still working through what happened and why. But they've determined that the driver wasn't speeding.

The patrol early this afternoon tweeted:

The speed issue had come up following the crash. MPR News reporter Madeleine Baran last night wrote that despite the construction, the State Patrol said the speed limit there was 70 mph.

The State Patrol incident report said the driver of the Mitsubishi 3000GT that hit the workers was in the left lane and had slowed down as he approached the construction area. The "driver felt he was too close to the construction wall," the report said.

The driver told officials he braked and turned right too sharply, and then turned left and then right again to try to maintain control of the car. The car spun out in the ditch on the right side of the road and struck the workers.

Officials said they have not determined whether the driver was speeding, but (State Patrol Lt. Eric) Roeske said, "there was no information from witnesses that would indicate it was excessive."

Now it's confirmed that speeding was not the issue.

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