Matt Gentry | The Roanoke Times

Crash scene workers survey a bridge that collapsed Wednesday with a concrete truck on it over Big Walker Creek on Virginia 713, Old Church Road, in Giles County.

Courtesy of VDOT

About 15 White Gate residences were briefly cut off from the outside world Wednesday when the Virginia 713 bridge across Big Walker Creek collapsed when the driver of a concrete truck from Fort Chiswell Construction went over the 158-foot steel truss and timber deck bridge. The bridge was built in the early 1900s and is in the process of being replaced. It was approved for vehicles weighing no more than 8 tons, said Virginia Department of Transportation officials.

"He should not have driven over it," David Clarke of VDOT said of the truck driver.

Giles County Fire Chief Todd Jones said the driver, Paul Bowman, 29, of Bluefield, Va., suffered a cut to the back of his head. He was taken to Carilion Giles Memorial Hospital in Pearisburg. Officials called in a crane to remove the truck from the creek.

Virginia State Police said Bowman has been charged with misdemeanor failure to obey a sign and felony destruction of property. He was hauling up to 15 ¹₂ tons of concrete, according to Trooper K.W. Spencer.

According to officials on the scene, residents will likely be able to use a temporary bridge that already had been erected by crews working on the new bridge.

Hazardous materials crews were dispatched to the creek to clean up an estimated 10 gallons of motor oil that spilled into the water as a result of the crash.

Wednesday's incident occurred not far from the site of a fuel tanker crash in February that dumped about 2,000 gallons of diesel fuel into the creek.