Photo by Jerry Sowden - Chris Hepler, a tow truck operator with Minich's, works Friday afternoon at the scene of Thursday's crash to help connect straps to the cables of a tow truck.

Route 227 between Rouseville and Pleasantville was finally reopened to traffic at about 3 p.m. Friday after the highway had been closed following a two-vehicle crash at 3:20 p.m. Thursday at Route 227 and Shamburg Road (Township Road 655) in Oil Creek Township, Venango County.

Franklin state police said both vehicles, a Freightliner tractor-trailer driven by Derrick P. Hahn, 32, of Sheffield, and a Ford F250 driven by a 16-year-old Pleasantville boy, were both traveling north on Route 227. Police said the teen slowed his vehicle in an effort to make a left turn into a private drive, and Hahn was unable to stop his rig in time and struck the front driver's side of the teen's vehicle.

The tractor-trailer then traveled off the road and into a ditch before rolling over onto its side, police said. The rig came to rest into the front lawn of a residence, according to reports.

No one was injured, police said. The rig was severely damaged and the Ford had moderate damage.

Hahn is a driver for W.H. Fitzgerald Inc. of Sheffield, and Tom Fitzgerald, the owner of the trucking company, said Friday the truck was carrying three 15,000-pound fan shafts that are used in the construction of giant, electric-generating wind turbines. The shafts were en route from Ellwood City to Maine, and a specialized tow truck and operators were called in from West Virginia to lift the three shafts, which apparently weren't damaged in the accident, and carefully place them on another flatbed semi to continue the trek to Maine.

State police were assisted at the scene by others, including Rick's Tree Service and Pleasantville volunteer firefighters. In addition to the efforts to recover the payload from the rig, crews also spent time clearing debris from the highway before it could be reopened.