A state trooper responding to an accident on Interstate 495 in Raynham was injured late Friday when he fell into an uncovered manhole, the latest accident involving a manhole or storm grate on a Massachusetts highway. Trooper Joseph Baker was running along the grassy median toward a truck that had rolled over near Exit 7A shortly after 10:30 p.m., when he fell into a hole roughly five feet deep, said trooper Eric Benson, a state police spokesman. Both Baker and the truck’s driver, 28-year-old George Cooke of Nantucket, were treated for minor injuries at Morton Hospital in Taunton, Benson said, and the Massachusetts Highway Department immediately covered the hole. Both accidents are under investigation.
Erik Abell, a state Executive Office of Transportation spokesman, yesterday said the manhole cover may have been dislodged by one of the industrial-sized mowers used on highway medians.
“We have replaced the cover and will ask the district to review their mowing operations,” Abell said in an e-mail.
Over the last month, missing or loose storm grates or manhole covers have caused at least eight accidents, the most serious of which occurred when a tractor-trailer dislodged a 250-pound storm grate on Route 128 in Westwood and sent it crashing through the windshield of a car, critically injuring the driver.
The accidents have prompted inspections of manhole covers and grates on major highways throughout the state. To date, Mass Highway has inspected approximately 60,000 of the more than 100,000 covers statewide, Abell said.
“Only a small percentage” have required repair, he said. He did not respond to inquiries about whether the department has been inspecting covers in medians as well as on roads.
Anyone who sees a loose grate or manhole cover should call the toll-free hotline: 1-888-359-9595.
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