Driver Charged In Fatality, But Road Shares Blame

Map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States with township and municipal boundaries (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In a press conference aimed at Route 222 drivers but mostly at PennDOT, Berks County District Attorney John T. Adams announced Friday that police have filed homicide charges against the New Jersey trucker who caused the most horrific of several fatal accidents on that congested highway.

The Oct. 22, 2012, crash in Maidencreek Township killed Lauren Boyer, 45, of Richmond Township when a tractor-trailer squashed her stopped car into the stopped truck ahead of her.

It also injured three people, one of them still undergoing treatment and surgeries.

Earlier Friday, Northern Berks Regional Police filed charges of homicide by vehicle, involuntary manslaughter and related offenses against the truck driver, Emilio Perez-Pazmino, 62, of Jersey City.

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After Long Wait, Birdsboro Gets Its Bridge Work

Map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States with township and municipal boundaries (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A delayed project to replace the Birdsboro Bridge that carries Route 345 over the Schuylkill River is getting the green light.

PennDOT officials said the work is supposed to start next Monday and take about two years. The span, which connects Birdsboro and Exeter Township and handles about 8,400 vehicles a day, will remain open while a new one is built just west of it.

The $14.5 million project was supposed to start in March but was delayed by the discovery that the area around the bridge is a habitat for red-bellied turtles, a threatened species. That required additional planning.

At the same time, PennDOT also needed to negotiate with nearby property owners to obtain rights-of-way.

Read more:  http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=415101