An ordinary drive to work nearly turned deadly for a St. Clair County, Michigan woman when a chunk of concrete flew through her windshield on I-696 westbound, near I-75.
She wasn’t near an overpass, and she thinks it was a large piece of the crumbling pavement on I-696 that flew into her windshield and destroyed her Bluetooth system. She is grateful to be alive
Geri Blish is still shaky after the terrifying commute on westbound I-696 Tuesday morning.
Just after 7 a.m., she was in the left center lane on a straight away when a semi truck passed on the right .
“He was throwing mud and things from the road up at me and then a rock came through,” she says.
Then she heard a crash.
“It took me a second to just look and I went ‘Oh. My word. There is a huge hole in my windshield’,” she says.
A huge hole in the windshield, shattered glass everywhere - even in her hair, her Bluetooth system damaged, cell phone knocked out of reach, Geri was in shock.
“Seriously by the grace of God I got off the expressway,” Blish said. “So it was just absolutely scary I’m just glad it was the passenger seat and not me.”
“I try to be such a diligent driver but, you know, what can you do when you have road that’s crumbling no matter where you are on I-696,” she says.
Michigan's Department of Transportation said that the department knows the roadway is crumbling.
“We’re replacing all of that concrete because it’s in such bad shape,” says MDOT spokesperson Diane Cross.
A major reconstruction project is scheduled to start this spring.
“I was complaining this is going to be so such a headache, but now I’m so grateful that they are doing this I wish they could start it today,” says Blish. “I mean this could happen literally right now to someone else driving in the same Position that I was in.”
MDOT will be picking up that piece of cement so they can confirm it’s a piece of the road.
