Truck rolls over, backs up traffic on Interstate 80 in Roxbury, NJ

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Friday, August 14, 2015
Truck hanging off of Interstate 80 in New Jersey
Darla Miles reporting

ROXBURY, N.J. -- A truck hauling cars rolled over Friday morning on eastbound Interstate 80.



Around the 10 a.m., the trailer of a truck ended up partially hanging over a bridge at Exit 28 (County Road 631 and U.S. 46). The left lanes are closed eastbound, but the center and right lanes are open as the cleanup continues. All lanes are open westbound.



Traffic is delayed through the area in both directions.



New Jersey Transit was told to shut down the railroad tracks below, which is part of the Morris Essex line, because of debris and the truck hanging over. NJT service has resumed after being suspended earlier from Mount Arlington to Hackettstown in both directions.



Another car, a Ford Edge, was also involved in the accident. The truck driver was taken to the hospital with a head injury. A woman and child in the Ford were also hospitalized for observation.





There is an open space between the eastbound and westbound lanes of Interstate 80 that crosses over the NJT tracks. When the truck overturned, the trailer part ended up on the guardrail overhang, leaving it technically hanging over the NJT tracks.



Witnesses described a huge explosion and a cloud of smoke.



"The explosion was tremendous. It got everybody in the factory nervous and that's why we're all out here trying to figure out what happened," said eyewitness Sean Cummings.



"We came outside and my co-worker said he heard children crying, he heard a woman screaming, so I came out a few minutes later and heard the police sirens and ambulances," said eyewitness Karen Hughes.



Newscopter 7 was over the scene:




The cause of the accident is under investigation.



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