A federal agency says a failed support strap holding a piece of electrical conduit in the Lehigh Tunnel played a role in the death of a truck driver in February.

The National Transportation Safety Board released a preliminary report on the Feb. 21 crash Tuesday.

A 2016 inspection revealed that the support straps were corroded and the turnpike was preparing to replace them, according to the preliminary report from NTSB.

Howard M. Sexton, a 70-year-old truck driver from New Jersey, was pronounced dead after the incident, which occurred around 6 p.m. Feb. 21 in the Southbound Lehigh Tunnel. The Lehigh County Coroner ruled the cause of death as blunt force head trauma.

NTSB said in its report that a broken support strap caused a 10-foot section of electrical conduit to break away from the ceiling. The conduit penetrated the vehicle’s windshield and struck Sexton fatally.

At the time when the conduit came loose, Sexton’s tractor-trailer was about 1,000 feet into the 4,037-foot tunnel. After being struck, the truck continued through the tunnel before coming to a rest just outside the exit of the tunnel on the right shoulder of Southbound I-476. No other injuries were reported.

The conduit is part of an electrical system that provided power to the lights, fans, cameras and substations inside the tunnel. The large fans are located directly above the travel lanes.

The Federal Highway Administration, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, and the Pennsylvania State Police have assisted NTSB in its investigation.

NTSB said all aspects of the crash remain under investigation, and it plans to release a probable cause for the crash once it is determined.