A U-Haul truck traveling through Evanston took an unexpected detour as it passed under Wyoming Highway 150 on Tuesday afternoon. The truck drove over the curb and up under the overpass before wedging itself on the concrete slope between the steel undercarriage and the supports of the bridge.
Three people, including a 2-year-old in a car seat, were driving the U-Haul eastbound on Interstate 80 when they took the Evanston exit at 1:50 p.m., the Wyoming Highway Patrol reports.
“They were making a left, which crosses back under I-80 to go into town,” WHP Lt. Matt Arnell told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday. “As they were making the turn, the driver said the steering locked up on her.”
The driver, Alexis White, admitted that the sudden steering lock caused her to panic. Instead of hitting the brakes, she hit the gas.
“They jumped the curb, over the sidewalk, went up a concrete embankment and jammed the U-Haul under the girders of the I-80 bridge," Arnell said.
The Wyoming Highway Patrol and Evanston Police Department responded to the scene. Everyone emerged from the U-Haul, shaken but unharmed, and the rental truck sustained minor damage.
“We checked the steering once we extricated the truck from under the bridge, and it worked fine,” Arnell said. “There were no signs of impairment, so I’m not quite sure what happened.”
Slightly Unusual
As responders worked to free the stuck truck, many passing by the scene took second looks and occasionally yelled some not-so-helpful advice to the U-Haul’s driver: “You can’t park there!”
That carried over to local social media, with some making the same observation, along with others wondering how someone could get the truck wedged that far up under the overpass and predictions the driver wouldn’t be getting the deposit back.
Engineers with the Wyoming Department of Transportation were notified of a bridge strike near Evanston around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday. They quickly responded to the scene to assess the bridge.
“Our bridge engineers determined there was no significant damage to the bridge,” said WYDOT spokeswoman Stephanie Harsha. “But I can only speak for the bridge.”
Harsha said bridge strikes caused by oversized vehicles are fairly common calls for WYDOT’s bridge engineers. Most of those strikes are caused by drivers who don’t adhere to the height and weight restrictions posted near underpasses to prevent such incidents.
“Sometimes it’s driver error, sometimes it’s weather-related,” Harsha said, “but most of the time it's just not adhering to our height and width restrictions.”
The Evanston U-Haul incident was “unusual” in Harsha’s experience because it didn’t conform to the typical bridge strike scenarios. She doesn’t know how it could have happened.
“I have worked with WYDOT for 13 years, and I’ve never seen anything like that,” she said. “This incident is slightly unusual, but bridge strikes aren’t unusual.
After seeing photos from the scene, Harsha was confident this incident was unrelated to a height or weight restriction for the Evanston underpass. If anything, the truck seemed to have plenty of space to maneuver until it wedged itself under the bridge.
“In this particular case, I don’t think that was the case,” she said. “It should have fit under there without any problem.”
A U-Haul truck that jumped the curb and got wedged under the Highway 150 overpass in Evanston, Wyoming, on Tuesday. Many passersby couldn’t help a second look and occasionally yelling some helpful advice as they drove by: “You can’t park there!” (Courtesy Cody Brinton Ranch) 
A U-Haul truck jumped the curb and got stuck unA U-Haul truck that jumped the curb and got wedged under the Highway 150 overpass in Evanston, Wyoming, on Tuesday. Many passersby couldn’t help a second look and occasionally yelling some helpful advice as they drove by: “You can’t park there!” (Courtesy Cody Brinton Ranch)
Temporary Trucker
Hauling the U-Haul out from under the bridge required strategic thinking.
Arnell said the towing company had to remove the air from the front tires, and a mini excavator moved in to ensure the truck didn’t roll onto the road once it was unwedged.
“It was a steep embankment,” he said. “They were able to guide it down. There was a 6-inch dent on the passenger side of the cab, but nothing too serious.”
The U-Haul’s occupants — the driver, a man and the 2-year-old child — were traveling through Wyoming on their way to Missouri when the incident occurred. They were safe but shaken by their sudden under-bridge parking experience.
“They didn’t have any money, so the Evanston PD bought them some food and got them a hotel for the night,” Arnell said. “Everyone was concerned about the welfare of the baby.”
The Wyoming Highway Patrol has closed its investigation, and the family should be able to resume their eastward journey, notwithstanding their sudden stop in Evanston.
Rapid Response
WYDOT has spent the last year showing its preparedness for rapid responses. The U-Haul incident was trivial in the scope of Wyoming’s vast infrastructure, but every call merits a thorough response.
After the devastating 26-vehicle crash in the Interstate 80 westbound tunnel on Feb. 14, WYDOT had two-way traffic moving through I-80’s eastbound tunnel six days later.
The westbound tunnel remains closed as WYDOT determines how best to repair the damage and safely restore traffic. It will likely be several months before the tunnel is open again.
Just how long until the westbound tunnel could be open again isn’t known,” WYDOT said in a March statement. The plans are “to have repairs underway by this summer and to have traffic moving in the westbound tunnel once again before the winter season.”
Meanwhile, it only took WYDOT three weeks to get a newly paved and leveled road ready for traffic through Teton Pass after a catastrophic landslide destroyed a significant portion of Wyoming Highway 22 on June 8, 2024.
WYDOT anticipates that the permanent replacement for that section of Wyoming Highway 22 could be finished by the end of July. That’s a little over a year from the date of the landslide.
“We had the detour built and traffic on a paved two-lane road just under 27 days,” John Eddins, district engineer for WYDOT District 3, told Cowboy State Daily in November. “I've worked for departments since 1988, so I've seen a lot of things similar to this. But this was a textbook response, and I’m very proud of what we’ve done.”
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
