Jeep Jumps Bridge Construction Pier Gorge

Lancaster Township Fire Department was dispatched Thursday July 24 at 2:34 a.m. to a reported vehicle into the river at Stonemill Road and Schoolhouse Road in Lancaster Township, PA. Lancaster County Wide Communications received a call from a resident of Greyfield Drive in the Pheasant Ridge Mobile Home Park explaining they heard a loud crash which possibly could have been a car driving into the river at the new bridge construction site.

Due to the caller residing in Manor Township, West Lancaster (6-8) and Roherstown (6-7) Fire Companys were initially dispatched. Arriving 6-7 and 6-8 apparatus found a vehicle in the construction zone resting along the shore line on the Lancaster Township side of the river. Rescue 6-8 and Engine 6-8-1 provided lighting from the Manor Township side of the river during the incident.

A 1989 black Jeep Wrangler attempted to jump a 50 foot wide bridge support pier pit of a new bridge under construction. Heavy thunderstorms filled the pit with over 20 feet of water and turned the construction field into mud. The driver removed safety barriers at the edge of the cliff which was the old elevated bridge entrance roadway, exposing him to a 25 foot drop to the river bank below.

After preparing the roadway for his Evil Knevil like stunt, the driver backed up the road to acquire enough speed to jump the ravine. The driver launched across the 50 foot wide water filled gorge (which resembled a castle mote) and hit the rim of the hole on the muddy river bank 25ft below. After impact the jeep traveled another 25 feet stopping short of the rushing water of the Conestoga River. The Jeeps undercarriage was heavily damaged from the force of vehicle impacting the ravine rim and was rendered inoperable and could not move in the mud field.

The driver smashed into the windshield and crushed the steering wheel after impact. The driver was no where to be found when Lancaster Township rescue personnel arrived on the Lancaster Township side of the bridge construction. Firefighters from Lancaster Township Engine 6-6-3 and Rescue 6-6 searched the extremely muddy river bank and the construction field for the driver. The driver was not found at the scene. Local hospitals were notified and the driver was discovered at Lancaster Regional Hospital seeking treatment. Firefighters remained on the scene until 3:32 a.m. The incident remains under investigation by Lancaster City Police Department.

The bridge contractor has placed a large pile of stones across the roadway at the entrance to the construction project to prohibit this kind of incident during the construction project.