Emergency crews at the scene of a tractor trailer crash on Route 221 in Marathon Wednesday morning (photo courtesy of Al Pagan)
MARATHON, N.Y. - The Cortland County Sheriff's Office is investigating a crash involving a tractor trailer and a municipal plow truck that occurred early Wednesday morning.
At around 6 a.m., officers responded to the intersection of Route 221 and Deans Pond Road in Marathon involving a tractor trailer. The accident shut down Route 221 between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. Wednesday morning.
Traffic Alert: Cortland County, T: Marathon SR-221, between Deans Pond Rd & Merrill Creek Rd, all lanes closed for crash. Possible 2 hrs. pic.twitter.com/ipeyz6Rxiq
— NewYorkStatePolice (@nyspolice) January 17, 2018
Authorities have identified the driver of the tractor trailer as Corey Houseman, of Booneville.
Houseman was driving a 2003 Kinetic Engineering Ltd. tractor trailer east on Route 221 when a town of Marathon plow truck, driven by Randy Ensign, of Marathon, backed up onto Route 221 from Deans Pond Road into the path of the tractor trailer, authorities said.
Houseman swerved to try and avoid the other vehicle, but struck the rear end of the plow truck. Houseman continued traveling east into the other lane of traffic and off the roadway before coming to a rest, partially overturned in a ditch, the sheriff's office said.
The tractor trailer was loaded with a cargo of sand and had a combined weight of more than 100,000 pounds, authorities said. Emergency crews needed about three hours to remove the cargo and the tractor trailer from the roadway.
The New York State Department of Transportation, the Marathon Fire Department, and Morey's Towing & Recovery assisted in the investigation, recovery, and clean up of the crash.
No injuries were reported by either driver, and authorities did not indicate whether road conditions were a factor in the crash. It's also unclear if any tickets will be issued to either driver.
The sheriff's office says it's investigation remains ongoing.
