PORTAGE | A Wisconsin man suffered a fractured skull after being hit by a school bus while riding his bike on Portage's Prairie-Duneland Trail.

The crash happened shortly after 8:15 p.m. Thursday as the man was crossing Lenburg Road, just west of Ind. 149 on Portage's north side. The man and his wife were travelling north on the recreation trail and didn't see the skewed Lenburg Road intersection. When he crossed into the street, he was hit by a Duneland School Corp. athletic department bus full of students, heading east, his wife told police. No one on the bus was injured.

The impact of the crash threw the man from his mountain bike to the pavement, shattering his helmet. Portage Fire Chief Bill Lundy said when EMT crews arrived shortly after the crash happened, they found the man unconscious and with severe head injuries, prompting them to request a University of Chicago Aeromedical Network helicopter to the scene.

The man was taken by ambulance to Imagination Glen Park where EMTs worked for more than an hour to stabilize him before he was airlifted to the trauma center at St. James Hospital and Health Centers in Olympia Fields, Ill., Assistant Fire Chief Joe Calhoun said.

The man's wife told police they were on a camping trip and didn't know there was a road ahead of them.