I-35 Semi Crash, 12/4/07

Hey! Just another day in paradise here in Central Texas! We had a doozy of a wreck on the interstate yesterday about 3:30 pm or so. An 18 wheeler going north ran into the back of another semi. Made one heck of a mess and closed I-35 for several hours.

Much of the traffic was diverted off the north bound and southbound exits before the wreck, cramming the secondary roads with traffic just in time for rush hour. How Fun! Neither driver was seriously hurt according to the news. I missed all the excitement because I didn't get out of work until after 4:30. Instead, I made sure all the kids got picked up from Basketball practice while the other members were working at the scene! We're a full service volunteer fire department, doncha know!

Here's what the news people had to say:

"A truck driver had to be extracted from the cab of his truck following an accident that backed traffic up for more than five miles Tuesday afternoon.
The accident occurred in Northbound traffic of I-35 about 3:30 p.m., as one 18 Wheeler struck the rear of another, crushing the truck's cab and spilling the load on the roadway.
One of the trucks spilled paint across the highway, clean up is expected to take several hours.
Traffic was backed up beyond Hewitt. DPS along with Hewitt and Robinson Police Departments were diverting Northbound I-35 traffic onto the service roads."

I joked with our chief "Hey, if they bring a crane in to pick up the trucks, make sure none of our fire department vehicles are anywhere where near it!!" If you read my very first post right here, you'll understand the department joke!