A tractor trailer crashed into a church in Wellersburg, Somerset County. The driver was the only one who was hurt and he was flown to Morgantown, West Virginia. 

According to Wellersburg District Volunteer Fire Company Deputy Chief Keith Sturtz, this isn’t the first time this has happened. He said, “This has happened 3 times in the last 12 months. I would say, within the last 15 years were looking at 10 to 15 truck wrecks on the same stretch of road.”

Sturtz, along with a neighboring Fire Chief Jim VanMeter from Corriganville, want to see some changes made to the road. They reached out to PennDot and local representatives about getting more signage for truckers or even a runaway ramp. 

Sturtz said, “Somebody’s going to end up getting killed. I don’t know what the state wants to do about it be we got to do something.”

Residents are concerned that the frequency of these incidents is increase. VanMeter lives down the street from the church. He believes they are lucky that no one was killed but thinks the luck is going to run out.

He explained, “Everybody made the comment that this church is probably the safest and luckiest building in the country because there have been so many tractor trailer incidents here and it’s never done damage to the church. However, as you can see the luck has run out on the church and unfortunately we feel the luck is running out on the tractor trailer drivers and the citizens of this town.”

VanMeter says trucks use this road as a way to avoid weigh stations. He believes the amount of trucks coming through the town is cause for concern. 

He said, “I have two children also and our homes, if anybody has been through town, our homes are within 10, 20 feet from the street. When the trucks go by 50-60 miles an hour, you know, you can feel it shake your windows. It’s definitely a safety issue for our town.”

If nothing changes, residents believe it’s a matter of time before this happens again.