Bessemer District Attorney Arthur Green has filed a civil lawsuit saying U.S. Steel Corp.'s method of transporting steel coils is dangerous and is asking a judge to bar the company from hauling the coils on Alabama highways.

State transportation officials say steel coils have dislodged from flatbed trucks onto Birmingham-area interstates 23 times since 1987, but it is unknown how many of those coils were from U.S. Steel.

The coils, which can weigh up to 44,000 pounds each, have caused hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage to Birmingham-area interstates.

A Hueytown woman was injured June 8 when her vehicle struck a coil that had fallen from the back of a truck on Interstate 20/59 north while it was en route from Fairfield to Gadsden.

"We've been lucky that no one has been killed," Green said.

Green filed the suit under a state law that allows a district attorney to bring civil action in cases where the public is at risk.

U.S. Steel loads its trucks with the steel coils "eyes out" – with the holes in the coils facing each side of the trailer – because they are easier to load and unload that way.

The lawsuit asks that U.S. Steel be fined and prevented from loading any trucks at its Bessemer plant until the company can show that it can do so safely.

"We want them to stop loading trucks in a way that makes the steel coils fall off," Green said. "They will have to sacrifice making it easier to load and unload in order to make it more safe."

John Armstrong, spokesman for U.S. Steel in Pittsburgh, where the company is based, told The Birmingham News that officials had just received a copy of the lawsuit Friday, had not reviewed it and could not comment.

The Alabama Trucking Association proposed at a meeting of steel, state and trucking officials last month that laws be enacted mandating stiff fines for truck drivers who lose their loads on public roads.

The meeting was called by state Sen. Jabo Waggoner and state Rep. Paul DeMarco. Both said they plan to introduce legislation next year regulating how the coils are transported on Alabama highways.