KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) -- Charges are now pending against the driver of a pickup truck after he drove into the median of I-75, striking two highway workers Monday morning. Both died on scene.

A TDOT spokesman calls it a "bad day"; both of the victims were very young: Cheyenne Dakota Burke, 18, of Bulls Gap and Jeffrey Brian Thompson II, 19, of Rogersville were both contracted to do maintenance on the cable barriers along Interstate 75.

Investigators say they simply had nowhere to go.

"The pickup truck coming south on the interstate, for reasons we've not determined yet, drifted into the median," says Lt. Todd Baird of Tennessee Highway Patrol.

A third contractor, the father of one of the victims, was sitting in the truck when the accident happened.

"They really didn't have anywhere else to go," says TDOT spokesman Travis Brickey.

Now investigators want to know why it happened. Could the loss of two young lives have been avoided?

"We haven't seen any skid marks," says Baird. "We can see where the truck tracked down into the median. There's tire marks there."

Troopers have not ruled out that the driver of the truck, James Hatfield, 50, may have had a medical emergency.

His Ford 350 Dualie rode the railing 150 feet before stopping.

Investigators say they're thankful for the barrier cable.

"It did its job. It kept the truck from entering the northbound lanes," says Brickey.

And while you may have had the headache of a traffic jam, two families have the heartache of a lost loved one. THP and TDOT don't know if the "move over" law could have made a difference in this case, but it can in the future. They ask that you remember this scene and move a lane over whenever you see a vehicle on the side of the road.

"Give these workers a chance to go home at the end of the day," says Baird.

As standard procedure, troopers did give Hatfield a blood test. He was taken to the hospital with minor injuries.

There were a few witnesses, but investigators will know more after they've talked to Hatfield and gotten his lab results back.

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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) -- All lanes of I-75 were reopened around 4 p.m. Monday in Anderson County after a deadly crash just south of the Clinton exit late in the morning.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol says the crash involved a vehicle and two TDOT contract workers. Both workers were pronounced dead on the scene.

Officials have identified the two men hit and killed by a truck on I-75 in Anderson County as Cheyenne Dakota Burke, 18, of Bulls Gap, and Jeffery Brian Thompson II, 19, of Rogersville.

TDOT says the two men were employees of Lu, Inc. of Kingston Springs, Tennessee. The men were working on cable barrier rail recently installed along I-75 near mile marker 121. A third Lu, Inc., worker was not injured. His son was one of the men killed.

Troopers say they're investigating the incident as a vehicular homicide, but are looking into the possibility that the driver of the Ford F350 that slammed into the men suffered a medical condition. The driver, James Hatfield of Huntsville, Tenn., is an employee of TNT Trucking, and he was hauling a trailer loaded with roll of aluminum. He was en route to Memphis.

An emergency services source tells VolunteerTV.com that both contract workers were killed.

“I speak for everyone here at the Tennessee Department of Transportation when I say our deepest sympathies are with the families, co-workers and friends of the two highway workers from Lu, Inc. who were struck and killed today along I-75 in Anderson County," TDOT Commissioner Gerald Nicely said today. "Highway construction workers put their lives at risk every day to build and maintain our transportation system. Unfortunately, incidents like this are all too common. The death of these two men should serve as a reminder to all motorists of the importance of using the utmost caution when workers are present along the roadway.”

The Tennessee Highway Patrol got the call around 10:46 a.m. Monday.