Augusta agencies discuss big-rig removal as I-20 lanes reopen

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - After days of damage control, cleanup and plenty of pulling and tugging, things are getting back to normal out on Interstate 20.

Near the state line, both eastbound lanes are now back open after the a big-rig ran off the over and into the Augusta Canal on Monday.

To get things back up and running, it took a lot of work from a lot of agencies.

“Just not everyday you get a tractor trailer in the canal,” said Wes Byne, Augusta director of utilities.

Not every day, and getting things sorted out is pretty complicated.

“Visually trying to see it, calculating what was on it, the weight, plus the weight of the water. Just having to bring it out gradually, and have it drain as you do it,” said Forrest Edwards, Chancey’s Towing & Recovery driver.

Edwards was on the scene to help get the semi out of the water. Besides just figuring out how to get it hooked, they had to figure out what type of chains to hook it with, and they had to work against the water current to change what direction it faced. But this wasn’t his first rodeo.

“Two different times with tractor trailers. Both loaded,” he said.

Yep, he recalls two different times a semi landed into the canal.

“This one, luckily, it was clay,” said Edwards.

Augusta Utilities agrees we’re pretty lucky it was just carrying clay.

“We have kaolin throughout the watershed, so it does show up, it’s just very — typically when you have a high concentration in one area, you can see it, and that raises concern for people, but it’s inert,” said Byne.

They took some precautions just in case.

“We basically shut down the canal. So we isolated the gates to keep any more water from coming in and washing in the material around,” he said.

But they’ve started pumping water out of the canal again.

“I think we’re very fortunate in this case that it wasn’t worse,” said Byne.

And as the highway opens and water flows, we’re getting back to business as usual.

As a reminder, we were told the driver did have minor injuries which is a whole other blessing as well. We’ll be keeping you updated on the traffic out on I-20, as always.

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